My life between the stars
by Tsjenobyl
Summary: A story about the life of John Shepard. Slightly adjusted to make the story of mass effect even better.
1. Battarian Invasion

**Battarian Invasion**

_"Peter, do you know where John is?" _

_"Well the most logical place is school, I mean... it's Monday morning ten o'clock. That means school has already started."_

_"Ok, but school just called to ask where he is, Evy doesn't know either"_

_"If he isn't there then I have no clue where he might hang out, relax Meriana... all kids rebel against their parents it's a natural process of growing up, especially when it's about school. but I will talk to him when he comes home of course."_

peter went back to work on his computer, working as a server administrator was boring work sometimes, but at least you were allowed to work at home. Meriana brought him a cup of coffee, Peter smiled to her.

_"I shall call hi..."_

suddenly she was interrupted by a heavy blasting sound, then screams... Meriana rushed to the window to see what was going on. She froze by what she saw. The administrations centre on the other side of the plaza was utterly destroyed. Big pieces of debris were flying through the air, people were screaming and running from the building with their hand above their heads. One man was crawling and clawing desperately with his hands while his legs were crushed under a big piece of metal.

_"what the F... server just went off-line."_

Peter went over to Meriana and stood next to her looking through the window. Another shell came down from the sky, hitting the school right in the middle. Peter was shocked by the sight of it_ "what the bloody hell is going on"_ Meriana began to panic _"Evy is in there, oh my god Peter... Evy is in there"._ Meriana sat back against the wall and was bursting out in tears. The colony Alarm went off, producing a high frequency tone followed by a male voice "_We are being attack by an unknown force. All militia, gear up and head for the government centre. All women and children to the government centre's underground bunkers.". _The alarm barely ended his sentence when Peter saw gunfire on the edge of the colony. The attackers were shooting while they ran into the Colony, fleeing people went down randomly. Wounded people were dragged away and kicked into a truck. Already some defenders were putting up a fight.

_"Meriana, go to the Government centre, I will gear up and aid the defenders."_

_Peter grabbed Meriana's arm and helped her back on her feet, she was crying and shaking. __"now Meriana, GO"_

_"Yes Peter of course... Just be careful" _Meriana kissed him.

_"yeah, you too darling, I'll look for John and Evy, I'll meet you there. "_

Meriana walked out of the room while she was grabbing her Phone, her hands began to shake when she found out that the connection was dead _"come bloody piece of shit, just let me make a call"._ Peter unlocked his militia locker, and geared up. A helmet like the ones used in world war 1 by the British, but upgraded with a safety glass and augmented reality. A Semi automatic rifle, 200 rounds in 20 magazines and a bayonet. And for protection all militia had bullet protection Kevlar vests. With this poor fighting gear the militia were to hold the line until alliance navy arrived. When Peter Rushed outside other militiamen were already putting up a heavy fight against the attackers which Peter could now identify as Battarians. Running toward the closest piece of cover proved challenging, he fell over a dead body, almost hurting himself with his bayonet. He quickly got up and ran forward. Another militiaman shouted "_Peter over here" _. He instinctively went over there, there were some men he knew. The man who shouted was Bard, a neighbor. Unfortunately Peter never got the chance to say _"hi"_, Bard was blown up by a battarian grenade. Bard's whole face was blasted away and three others fell as well. Peter was blown backward because of the shock. He quickly grabbed his rifle, planted the back of the rifle in the earth to pull himself up and leaped into cover. Just where Bard was 5 seconds ago.

_"dad!"_

_"John, what are you doing here, where did you get that equipment."_

_A whistling sound and the explosion of a shell shook the ground, showering John and Peter with dirt._

_"grabbed it from a dead man."_

_"Dammit son, I'm glad you skipped school... It's blown apart"_

_"I know, I went motor crossing with Brian and Donald, we heard explosions and gunfire in the distance. We went back here as quick as we could. Do you know where Evy is? I tried to call her but communications are off-line."_

_"No I don't know, but we better get out of here. Cover me while I try to look for others around"_

John peeked around the corner and saw the Battarians running towards him. He pointed his weapon and "Bang!". Shot one battarian in the leg. He crumbled and the other two leaped into cover. He shot again, this bullet turned out to be a deadly one. The battarian went down and didn't move again. The other two returned fire upon John so he had to hit his cover again. A heavy shell exploded on the other side of the street. Dirt was showering down on John. Peter was down the street, signaling that he found some others and waved his hand to John, _"We'll cover you!"_. John ran towards the others, they bravely got out off cover and lay a line of bullets through the street to give John safe passage. John made it, but two men were shot. Meanwhile the Battarians had brought in an APC, which was now spraying bullets trough the street, more Battarians stepped out from the back. _"We have to fall back to the government centre". _shouted one of the men. The rest of them agreed and they turned around and began to run. John was running right behind his dad, he saw at least 5 men go down in front of him. What was left of the group turned right at the next junction. After 50 meters they stopped and lined up. They could all hear the screams of the wounded militiamen who fell during their fall back run. Horrified screams and gunfire... then silence, the Battarians had finished them off. The first 12 men knelt down, and the other 12 stood behind them. All pointing towards where the Battarians would be coming from. _"get ready... here they come boys!"_ shouted the same man who gave the fall back order before. Everyone was nervous, most men couldn't hold still their rifles, their hands were shaking. The sun was shining brightly upon their bayonets and helmets, it made the bayonets look extra lethal. John was breathing heavily and so was the man next to him, he was scared as well. John tried to aim but his rifle was heavy. At least 20 Battarians came around the corner and all the militiamen opened fire. A hailstorm of bullets hit the Battarians, two Battarians dropped dead to the ground, others were crawling wounded on the ground. Low voiced screams indicated that they were in pain, John found it most satisfying and it made his ego rise. The Battarians were shocked, they didn't expect their fleeing foe to face them right around the corner. Before the Battarians could line up their weapons John suddenly shouted _"CHARGE!" _and without question all the men charged the Battarians head on. John ran about 10 meters behind his dad. Suddenly a shell exploded right next to the spot where his dad was. Peter was blown to the right, his left leg was gone and his face was crushed. John went on charging, he jumped through the dust of the explosion. A battarian appeared right in front of him, he fired his weapon in a reflex and stabbed the battarian with his bayonet_ "Get down you Bastard"_ he shouted. The militiamen who survived the charge clashed with their opponent. Now they were on the advantage because the Battarians didn't have bayonets. The standing Battarians were taken care off easily. He pushed a crawling foe to the ground with his boot and stabbed him, ending his life instantly. John saw an incoming enemy just in time to dodge him, he quickly turned around his axis and stabbed the Battarian in his underbelly, fired his rifle and kicked him off his bayonet with his boot. John looked around him, As the last one of the battarian foot soldiers slid from the bayonet of a militiaman, he shouted _"Now everybody! Get the hell out of here... Back to the government centre!" . _All the men began to run towards the government centre randomly, there was no sign of any organization. The roaring sound from the Battarian APC's engine could already be heard very clearly, but John knelt down next to his dad to honor him. He stood up again with a lump in his throat. _"I'll redeem you father, even if it's the last thing I do" _John grabbed his father's helmet and began to run, he heard the rattling sound of the APC's heavy automatic gun, he looked back. What he saw gave him a shiver on his back, his mother Meriana... naked, Tortured, walking emotionless, she was being brutally pushed into the APC along with some others who were captured as well. John looked ahead of him again and kept running, still in disbelief of what he just saw. _"what are those bastards doing. what do they want from us... could they be slavers?" _

John now had a visual on the government centre, it was heavily reinforced already. The militia turned it into their head-quarters, _"if I could just reach it!"_ A shell exploded just to his right and another one left in front of him. He was blown to the left, His sight was suddenly blurry and his hearing was muted. A high frequent beeping tone tearing through his head, he grabbed his head due to the pain. He was creeping through the field of corpses that lay in front of the government centre, battarian and human. _"Curse those bloody Battarians, I'll hate them forever" ._John pushed himself on his feet and wandered about towards the militia head-quarter, unaware of the battle around him, his sight came back to normal and his hearing was getting better but still dim. He heard vague shots around him and voices far in the distance there was also a flashing light to his right, a hollow "boom" then wind and dust. _"must have been an explosion"_ he thought to himself. He saw two militiamen in the doorway in front of him holding out their hands, one of them was saying something but he couldn't hear what he said. It was vague gibberish. Suddenly he felt a terrible pain in his right leg, he felt to the right as he tried to grab the hand of one of the militiamen. They grabbed him and pulled him inside. Another shot in his back, his body began to shake, and he was spitting some blood. He heard people screaming and shouting. Lieutenant's barking orders, and weapons were fired. Every few second there was a heavy explosion to be heard. _"out of the way! we got a wounded here!" _shouted one of the militiamen who carried him. He was laid down on a stretch bed en things began to fade, _"I made it..." _his eyes began to roll, everything seemed to be in slow motion. _"Hey! stay with us son..."_ A man hit his hand against his cheek_ "You're not going to die on my watch" _ he said, he had a white bracelet decorated with a red cross, then everything went dark.

John opened his eyes and looked around. The battle was still raging, _"so it wasn't a nightmare."_ He got up a bit, planting his elbows behind him. Next to him he heard a familiar voice, _"Hey little brother."_

_"Ah you're awake" _said a doctor _"what's your name son"_

_"John Shepard"_

_"Do you know who is lying next to you?"_

_"My sister Evy Shepard"_

They heard someone scream "MEDIC" in another room.

_"Good, Good enough... I'll leave you then."_

The doctor rushed away, leaving John and Evy. Evy turned towards her brother, _"I'm sick John, I think I'm going to die"_

_"No you're not"_

_"Yes I am... those monsters tried to drag me away, then the militia came and scared them away. One of them injected something to me"_

_"Have you told the doctors about it?"_

_"No, now I get those weird seizures. I had three already, it gets worse every time"_

Suddenly a little a small stream of blood was coming out of her eye, _"John, I'm dying"_ She said scared and half crying.

_"No Evy Stay with me, Stay with me... DOCTOR HELP!"_ He crouched over to Evy and pushed her to his chest, and stroke his hand through her hair. She began to puke blood on his clothes, The doctor ran inside. _"John don't leave me!"_ she screamed _"I'm right here sis"_ there spurted blood from her mouth as she breathed heavily _"JOOOHN! WHERE ARE YOU! I CAN'T FEEL YOU!"_ she threw up blood again _"NOOOOO!"_ she was clawing his back with her nails. Her body began to shake all over, another Seizure. John held his sister close to his chest, then she was limp as a rag doll. John Began to cry, holding his sister in his arms. Laying his head on her head. _"I'm sorry about your sister John" _was the only thing the doctor said before he was already being summoned by someone else. John Laid his sister down and stood up, his body was hurting very bad. He stumbled toward a window, and looked outside. He was on the second floor. He saw the village square in front of the government centre, militiamen outside were putting up a fight, men were running aimlessly around and were shooting at the enemy. It was a complete chaos, men were falling by the dozens. Wounded militiamen were crawling around, body's were covering the entire square and at some places the corpses were three layers thick. John saw a militiaman, his jaw was blown off. The man was wandering the square slowly, looking at nothing. John took his rifle and put it on the window frame, he picked his target and shot "_Bang!"_. Picking targets proved challenging, the Battarians were taking good cover. He could hear heavy gunfire from the roof. Some militiamen managed to turn the AA-guns towards the ground, this way they could hit ground targets. Dull pops and tracer bullets came down from the roof towards a Battarian APC. Within seconds it was filled with holes, he heard the men shouting on the roof as the APC exploded _"Roo-ah, Scratch one!"_. They kept firing and some Battarian infantry fell as well. Johns ears began to mute again because of the heavy sounds of the AA-gun, but it was totally worth it. The point and shoot pattern repeated itself a few times. From the corner of his eyes he saw something that caught his attention. A young boy came running out of an alley towards the government centre. He was chased by two Battarians, one of them shot the boy in his leg. The boy shouted in pain en fell on his knees. The other Battarian hit the boy on the back of his head with his rifle. John aimed at one of them and shot, hitting a Battarians shoulder. The other one shot the boy through his head then they took cover. Some militiamen saw it as well and began to fire at the Battarians. Soon they were dead. But the boy was killed, he was too late. Suddenly he heard_ "Incoming rocket", _shouted by a militiaman next to him. John dropped to the ground as the rocket hit the window frame where the shouting Militiaman just was. Another rocket hit something just above them on the roof. John could hear the men screaming. Apparently the AA-gun was destroyed and the men who operated were wounded. The first rocket completely destroyed the window frame and the man was blown away, his right arm ripped of his body. He was screaming, and looked shocked when he saw his arm was blown off. John rushed over to him and pushed him to the ground _"MEDIC!". _When he looked down to the man he saw it was already too late, he was dead. A loud noise shook the building, Bombers were flying over very low, loud explosions could be heard in the distance as they dropped their bombs. tanks rolled through the streets, firing their heavy main guns upon the Battarians APC's. It appeared to be effective,_ "Finally the alliance has arrived" _John said to himself. Kodiak's were dropping of Rifleman, who instantly attacked the enemy. optimistic voices and shouts were heard through the building. Battarians were fleeing in all directions... Humans had the Victory, but John lost everything, He couldn't see the bright side of it.

Some moments later John Shepard was sitting with his back against the wall, his elbows on his knees and his hands on the back of his head. His eyes staring emotionless to the ground. _"what the hell just happened today, Mom died, dad died, Evy died, So many died... why not me?"._Evy's Blood was still wet and all over his clothes, he couldn't tell if the bandages on his wounds were drained with his or Evy's blood.He heard footsteps closing in

_"Hello soldier, how are you holding up"_

_"I'm not a soldier, I'm a mechanic, a citizen, a useless colonist... but a soldier... no"_

_"Well, you militiamen put up a hell of a fight. I'm Captain David Anderson, I came down to check upon the survivors"_

_"Hmm... Survivor, yeah... I survived, but lost everything. My mom, dad, sister... everyone is dead. how many survived anyway?"_

_"237 people survived, 5.000 were killed, 47 wounded and 35.000 were taken prisoner, number is still rising"_

John wasn't reacting when he heard the number, The reality of it slowly got through to him. "_way to many"_ He thought, John wanted to go away from this hellish place. _"Why so few wounded"_ he asked, _"They took the wounded with them"_ Anderson replied _"probably slavers"._

_"I don't want to stay here anymore, take me with you on your ship."_

_"Are you sure, the colony could really use a skilled mechanic with the rebuilding project."_

_"I most certainly am, I need to get out of here, everything I was died today"_

_"Hmm... Ok, Grab your gear and meet the others at the pick-up spot just next to this building."_

John Shepard grabbed his rifle, gave his sister a kiss on her forehead... he sat beside her for a brief moment. The pain she endured was still written on her face _"Pure agony"_ John thought to himself. Then he stood up and walked away, he would never forget the sight of his sister. _"She died in so much pain... and her eyes bled..."_ his stomach turned around about three times, he threw up all over the floor. _"Hey easy son", _it was captain Anderson _"no man can see the things you saw today and be left untouched by it... it's ok, just take your time."_ John was calmed down by Anderson's words. He looked up, took a deep breath and wiped the tears from his eyes. _"Thanks... captain"_ John walked down the stairs and went outside. It was a complete horror scene, the smell of burning corpses was overwhelming, but John did his best not to throw up again. When he arrived at the pick-up point, he sat down. He was playing with the grass a bit, _"Hey Johnny, Tough son of a bitch huh..." _John turned his head

_"hey Brian... Brian O'niel. You have no idea how happy I am to see you, So few survived... I was afraid I wouldn't see a known face again."_

_"You're not getting rid of me that easy"_

_"what about Donald?"_

_"Died..."_

_"I'm Sorry man"_

_"he was your friend too"_

_"Yeah I know... You Joined up the military as well?"_

_"Yup, what should I do else? Kill myself? No one I know survived today, my whole life blown to bits. Besides, Donald asked me to when he sacrificed himself, his exact word were: Make 'em pay Brian, don't make me die for nothin'. "_

_"The same goes for me... I promised to redeem my father."_

Brian threw his gear next to John's and sat down beside him. _"Oh by the way."_ Brain took something from his pocket and gave it to John. It was a picture of him with his mom, dad and sister. _"Where did you get it?"_ John asked. _"I saw your sister in the hospital... I'm sorry about her... but they found this picture upon her body and they said you left already, so I took it."_

_"Thanks man..."_

The two didn't say anything for a long time, when finally the word came. They were Going.


	2. Military training

**Military Training**

After a three day journey the survivors arrived at the military space station orbiting Earth. Here they were to sign up and get their basic training. The past three days were silent, he had been traveling with Brian and some other survivors from Mindoir. All the new recruits kept to themselves most of the time, which wasn't strange of course. All had seen terrible things, and much had to be thought over and much relatives had to be mourned. The guys of the alliance had been taking good care of them, and the food wasn't all that bad. After the attack on Mindoir their colony planet. Most of the young boys and girls decided to join the military. They wanted payback for what happened and as far as they could see it, this was the only way how to do that.

The whole group was now walking through the main hall. John had to say that it was quite a beautiful space station, lots of potted plants and trees, _"would they've been trying to create a natural oxygen supply?"_. It gave the whole station had a natural look. The main hall was quite big and a lot of people were walking around. Groups of recruits were marching around followed by squad leaders or lieutenants. There were also a lot of people with data pads walking around, lots of voices were filling the hall. It was a very busy place. In the middle of the main hall there was a fountain which was abundantly spraying water, benches were place around it. One side of the hall was an enormous glass window looking right into space, John saw fighter spacecraft flying in formation and behind that in the distance was _"Earth"._ The home world of humanity. The whole scene looked very prestigious. The bunch of recruits John was walking amongst had no formation at all, they looked rather pathetic. A group of teenagers wrapped in bandages.

The survivors walked into the sign up room and were ordered to sit down and to wait for their turns. John and Brian sat beside each other.

_"What happened to your family?"_ asked John.

_"I don't know. When we came back inside the colony, we lost you. Donald and I were swallowed up in a fight, where was no time to look for you. Donald sacrificed himself by creeping under an enemy APC with a bit to much grenades, blew the damn thing sky high. It gave us a chance to fall back to the government centre. What happened to my mom and dad... I don't know, I try not to think of what might have happened to them."_

_"I'm sorry man."_ John said, while he was searching for his family photograph. Brian didn't respond, he was in his own mind. John looked at the photograph of his family while Captain David Anderson was talking with the woman who was about to give them their sign up papers. They nodded to each other, David Anderson left the room and the woman walked towards them.

_"OK, listen up guys. You all have to fill in this form in order to become part of the Alliance military. I want you to fill them in to the best of your ability, and no funny answers... these are serious papers."_

She gave all the new recruits a form. John looked at his form and grabbed a pen.

Name: _John Shepard_

Age: _16_

Reason: _Family murdered, nowhere else to turn to. Chance to give the Battarians some payback._

The rest of the form were standard questions about health and education.

John was done with his form and waited for a brief moment. Brian was done with his form as well, so the two friends walked towards the lady who gave them their forms. _"Here ma'am, as you requested"_. The woman looked at the papers, _"John and Brian. Basic training quarters B14, you will share your room as requested by David Anderson, Breakfast is at 7 o'clock, basic training starts at 8 o'clock in classroom C8."_

John and Brian installed themselves in their new quarters, a bunk and a table with two chairs. A sink and a pile of towels. That was all, but it was all they were going to need. They would be most of the time spending somewhere else in the station anyway. _"I'm very tired what about you?"_ asked Brian. _"Yeah... I could use some sleep as well. seems like tomorrow is going to be a busy day."_ Brian sighed as he laid down on his bed.

_"What's up"_ John asked

_"Nothing serious"_

_"Hey, you don't fool me Brian, tell me what's on your mind"_

Brian tossed around a bit in his bed, _"It's about Rosie. I never had the chance to tell her that I liked her"_

_"I'm sorry man, was she killed?"_

_"No, she was taken, but at least I can dream about her"_

_"Very well, as long as I don't hear strange noises in the middle of the night"_

Both of them laughed, for the first time in days. _"And it felt good"_ John thought to himself.

The First weeks on their military training were rather dull. Only theory, learning about tactics and military organization. They were told what the rules of engagement are and how to use them in different combat situations. They were also learning about the Geneva convention, only thing they learned about it was that it was used years ago. These days all methods one could think of were allowed in war. And final, the different combat groups were mentioned.

2 men are a buddy team 2 men private

4 men are 1 fire team 4 men lance corporal

4 fire team are 1 squad 16 men sergeant

4 squads are 1 company 64 men lieutenant

4 companies are 1 battalion 256 men lieutenant colonel

4 battalions are 1 regiment 1024 men colonel

4 regiments are 1 brigade 4096 men brigade general

4 brigades are 1 division 16384 men major general

4 divisions are 1 corps 65536 men lieutenant general

4 corps are 1 army 262144 men marshal

And the worst of all, history about tactics and warfare.

later on the actual training began, building up their condition and endurance, John was also following his own mechanical lessons as well. Shooting practices, and assault courses. Maneuvering in a fire team, maneuvering in a squad. Everything was handled. this went on for two years, by this time everyone was a walking military handbook. They had been training the past year for their greatest test in their training, this was called _"The drop zone"._ Nobody seemed to know what it meant. Of course the other hardened and trained soldiers knew what it was all about, but no one told them anything. Probably to make them scared. It did have the desired effect in that case, all the new recruits were tense as the day of the test came closer. Some older soldier would rather call it the _"rite of passage"_ to become a soldier. Before this test the new recruits were put into squads led by a squad leader. These four squads were competing against each other in some sort of race. The winning squad would be rewarded and the winning squad leader was given the opportunity to lead the company consisting of those four squads. The squad leaders were picked by a theoretical test, the four best scores were to be the squad leaders.

Finally, after months of training their final test began, everybody was very excited about it. In the morning all the boys were gathered for their breakfast, all of them were fully packed and ready to go. They were send to the shuttle bays. all 64 recruits entered the already waiting Kodiak drop ships. The drop ships flew to a carrier drop ship which could drop the whole company at once. As soon as all the recruits were on board the carrier drop ship, they had their debriefing. Captain David Anderson was walking back and forth in front of a whiteboard while all recruits took their seats.

_"Now listen up all of you, this is going to be THE mission, so don't screw up. After this missions you're considered soldiers, this is your final test."_ Nobody expected this would be the last test, John heard some soft exited voices. _"what would happen after this"_ John thought to himself _"would he be sent off to a mission?"_ he could hardly believe it himself.

_"You are to pick up a package, every squad has his own package to retrieve, the coordinates can be found on your squad leaders map. within the circular area drawn on your map you will be using your Omni tool to determine where the exact location of your package is."_

John looked at his map. A large circular area, with a diameter of approximately 50 kilometers was drawn on the map.

_"Just pick up this package and bring it back to the rally point. The coordinates of the rally point will be inside your package. Just be sure to bring your package to the rally point, else you will fail the test. any questions?"_

A soldier raised his hand _"how long will this mission take"_

_"Depends on you, but approximately 1 week."_ a shock went through the company _"This is quite some time"_ John grunted, _"indeed"_ said Brian.

_"What about food sir"_

_"You have to figure that out yourself recruit, but be prepared to hunt and skin animals."_

Anderson concluded the briefing and ordered everyone to stand by for landing, they almost reached the surface of planet Earth. John had never been there before and was excited to see it with his own eyes. _"ETA 10 seconds"_ Said the helmsman. The carrier landed and the tailgate opened, the whole company stepped outside. There was a very lush and green vegetation consisting of palm trees and bushed. You could only look a few meters into the forest because of the density of the plant life. The air was very damp and stuffy this made it hard to breath. The forest was the opera of a nonstop orchestra of bird sounds. _"what kind of place is this"_ he asked to one of the other recruits, to which the other recruit responded _"I think it's a jungle"_. John looked at the dense vegetation _"How are we going to find a package in here?"_ he said to Brian, who had been put in his squad. He opened his Omni tool and looked for info about jungles, about the species that lived in it and the warnings about them. Until now he never heard of nor see such a forest before. All members of Johns squad clustered around him, he was supposed to lead them. John took his father's helmet out of his backpack and put it on his head. The mission proved to be quite hard indeed, John had his first real experience with leadership. He had to make sure that they kept proceeding towards their goal, and his men needed food and water as well.

The first two days were hard, they were walking all day. slept through the night with some men as lookouts. John didn't trust this forest nor it's animals. He was sure the forest would turn against them at some point, and he didn't want to be taken by surprise. The squad also made a fire to keep predators at bay. Pretty quick john found out that large predators were not the worst. during the nights the squad was tortured by thousands of little mosquito's. During daytime they walked, which was quite hard, progress was slow and took a large amount of energy. Everyone was sweating after 15 minutes walking, and no one trusted the little pools of water enough to drink from it nor to cool down in it.

During day three the squad was under attack by hairy creatures while they were walking through the dense shrubbery. The enemy was attacking with sticks, stones and a lot of noise upon Brian's fire team who's reaction was _"TAKE COVER, we are under attack"_. He grabbed his rifle and returned fire immediately, shot one of the bastards whereby the rest of the enemy's fled. When we saw the enemy lying on the ground everyone laughed very hard except for Brian. At the end of the afternoon they walked into the circular area marked on their map. john ordered to keep walking towards the center of the area until it was time to set-up camp. _"Brian, try to find that signal on you Omni tool."_ Brian nodded and activated his Omni tool, he touched some buttons and waited as it tried to find any signals. _"rest of the squad, grab something to eat and drink, there's a long march ahead of us tomorrow."_ John sat down as well and grabbed his food package, this was the last they had. All soldiers were ordered to eat the same proportions and everybody was now eating their last meal of alliance food. After his meal John began inspecting his gear. His father's helmet, his body armor was Light predator armor, and his rifle was an improved type that he used during the defense of the Mindoir colony. This Rifle had increased accuracy and its bullets were a bit heavier, granting way more damage than the light rifle. After his physical military training John didn't have any trouble carrying this heavy weapon_. "John can you come over here for a sec?"_ It was Brian, John walked over to his friend and was curious about his findings with the Omni tool scanner.

_"I was just mentioning your heroic action against our hairy foe's in my after action report. Did you find the package?"_

_"Hey not funny! I didn't know they were apes. But about the package, some interesting scanning's... here take a look"_

They both looked at the Omni tool map. The map was focused on their current area and centered on their squad. The GPS tracker displayed the route they had already walked, they entered the area from the south. To their north west there was a single dot which Brian marked as "A". To their west there were more than 20 dots which Brian marked as "B". Between Marker A and B there were another 16 dots labeled "C". According to the scanner C was on route to A.

_"what do you think Brian"_

_"I think someone else found our package as well. look, marker C is moving slowly towards A which I think is our Package , other dots at B indicate that C must have some kind of encampment at B."_

_"who could it be"_

_"I have no idea."_

_"Squad make ready to leave, our mission just got a lot more complicated, we have a race to win. Don't expect to sleep this night"_

Every squad member suddenly packed up their gear and put their backpacks upon their back, some cantankerous voices were heard while they packed and got ready to move. As soon as everybody was ready to move John received the scanner details from Brian and John soon found himself running through the jungle. _"Nobody is going to steal my package"_ he thought.

after hours Brian said _"Where are we going, we're running west."_

_"I know Brian, "we're running to their encampment. We'll take our package back there."_

after another hour of running the squad stopped to catch a breath. _"Ok everybody listen up, up ahead is some kind of encampment. Someone else found our package and they are now back on-route to the encampment. According to Brains scanning's there are still people inside the encampment. We won't take any chances, so we will capture this encampment. Red fire team is my fire team, blue fire team is brains. Green is Carrols team and yellow is Bobby's team. Brian all got you your positions around the camp marked on the map. we will encircle the camp and close in, we keep in radio contact about our ROE. any questions?". _

Bobby stood up and said _"and what if they are going to shoot"_

_"then you should be glad we have real ammo and weapons with us"_

_"But this is a military TRAINING"_

_"Indeed bobby, this is where we practice for the real shit. This could happen in a real mission too, then we're not going back whining either because someone else had the objective first. We will win no matter the cost, we WILL retrieve that package and we WILL be the first ones back."_

_"Roo-ah"_ was the sudden response off the rifleman squad. It turned out that he had made a firm statement.

The squad sneaked around the camp. It turned out to be some sort of village, only with a lot of armed guys. John could hear voiced talking in some strange language he never heard before. Suddenly he heard Carrols voice over the comm.

_"Shepard, we have a Spanish guy in our team, he says they're going to be well rewarded if they retrieve the package."_

_"let him get closer and see if he can eavesdrop some more on their conversation"_

some silence before Carrols voice said, a little angry

_"seems they have hostages as well"_

John switched his radio to squad channel so everybody could hear his command _"close in 50 meters, all teams"_

After every team confirmed that they completed their movement John said

_"Now attack"_

Johns rifle Fired, A loud BANG! one of the man who was having the conversation was shot in his neck, because of John heavy bullet, part of the man's neck was blown away, the gap sprayed blood in the face of the other man. The neck snapped and the man collapsed, Suddenly gunfire could be heard from all sides of the village. The enemy was in a state of complete chaos. The fire teams were executing their well trained small unit attack protocol. one buddy team was shooting, the other buddy team moved on, knelt down and gave the enemy suppressive fire. Soon all fire teams were inside the village.

Johns fire team made it to the edge of the village as well. In the nearest building were 3 enemy's. He ordered 2 riflemen of his squad to fire three rounds upon the enemy from outside. John and his buddy took place on either side of the doorway and attached their bayonets, _"I'll take two of them, you will cripple the third one"_

_"aye aye sir"_

When the other buddy team opened fire it was immediately answered with a lot of shouting, then the enemy returned fire. After three rounds John and his buddy team rushed inside without shooting. When they were noticed by the enemy it was already too late. The man closest to John opened his mouth to say something but John stabbed him right in his chest. Another enemy turned around, his eyes widened in amazement while John fired his rifle. The bullet went right through the body that was hanging on his bayonet, straight into the body of the man behind it. John's buddy opened a volley at the legs of the third enemy, who felt down an lost his weapon, he was crippled.

John went over to the crippled man and pointed his bayonet on his throat. _"Do you speak English?"_ he asked. The crippled man looked up at John, _"Yes... please don't kill me"_ said the man half crying. The other buddy team walked inside, one of them began to examine the man and tend to his wounds. It was Terry the medic. _"Who are you, and what are you doing here?"_ John asked. _"We are the luchadores por la lebertad and we were to guard the hostages"_

_"what hostages"_

Suddenly Terry said. _"They are some kind of Rebels I think, I've heard of these guerrillas who hide in the jungles"_

_"I didn't hurt anyone, please let me go"_ Said the man scared.

_"You're not going anywhere, what about that package you're picking up?"_ John Shepard was losing his temper.

_"I don't know about that. It dropped here so we decided to take a look."_

Sheppard was called over the radio, he ordered his team to tie the man.

_"This is Shepard, come in"_

_"This is team yellow. We cleared our side of the village and took one prisoner"_

_"Ok proceed towards my position, take the prisoner"_

About three second later John was called again, this time it was Brian.

_"John, we found 27 civilians, they were tied, probably taken hostage by the looks of it."_

_"Ok Brian, escort the hostages to the village square."_

Brian closed the channel. Now John was radioing green team.

_"Green team? "_

_"This is team green, we killed eight. Regroda is lightly wounded."_

_"keep searching the village, make sure we didn't missed anyone"_

_"Aye aye"_

After some time there was a minor gunfight outside, _"Carol must have found some"_ John thought. Shortly after that yellow team walked in leaded by Bobby and followed by the prisoner and his guards.

_"Bobby, put your prisoner next to mine and guard them, I'll take my team and head over to the village square to meet team blue. Just stay here and wait for further instructions."_

_"Yes sir."_

John and his team walked towards the village square. It was a very small town with about 15 houses and dirt roads. In the centre of the village was a small open spot which the squad called the _"Village square"_. There he saw Brian with his team along with the 27 hostages he mentioned.

_"Hey Brian, I see you got quite a fish huh?"_

_"Yeah, we just bumped into 'em, killing them guards first of course."_ he said with a big smile.

John turned towards one of the hostages. They looked hungry and filthy.

_"Hello, my name is John Sheppard, alliance military. Who are you?"_

A man was walking forward until he stood in front of John.

_"We're alliance as well, we came to aid the survivors of a terrorist attack on the city of Brazil. Once there, our headquarters were overrun by these rebels, they held us hostage for three weeks now. I guess they tried to trade us for ransom money."_

_"What a luck we ran into you then. We will take you out of here, but we need to obtain our objective"_

_"Which is?" asked the man._

_"A package of some sort, a patrol of rebels stole it and they are now on their way to this village. I want to take them by surprise, and maybe you can help me"_

_"I don't see how"_

_"I want some of the bravest hostages to dress up like rebels and walk around the village square when the patrol gets back. When they walk inside the village we will take them on the square by surprise."_

_"We're no soldiers"_

_"We'll do the shooting. When I give the signal your men just have to run to the closest building and hide."_

_"Hmm, ok then, what else."_

_"The rest of you will hide the body's and gather as much supplies as we can carry all together, I want everybody ready to leave when we've taken care of the patrol."_

Suddenly there was gunfire and John could hear Carol shouting _"Lay down you son of a bitch!"_. followed by some Spanish gibberish. _"I said lay down!"_ then a loud bash. Apparently she knocked her enemy to the ground with her rifle, John walked over there.

When John walked around the house. Carol's team was already tying down the captive. Carol was still pointing her rifle at her foe and John could see that adrenaline was racing through her veins. She was breathing short and heavily _"You three can take him to the other prisoners."_ Said John

_"Aye aye"_

When they left John put his hand upon Carol's shoulder. _"And you should calm down a bit."_ He said calm. _"Yeah you're right" _she turned towards John. _"Wow, she's pretty without a helmet"_ he thought. She had dark red hair that reached to her shoulders. Her eyes were green and were looking at John's, he could drown in those eye's. Her soft edged round face was very cute. Especially when she began to blush. _"Oops"_ he thought _"I'm holding her look just a bit too long"_. Carol turned her eyes to the ground. His hand was still on her shoulder. the wind was playing with her hair while it was wobbling a bit along her face. Her hair stroked his hand on her shoulder. A lock of hair fell before her right eye. John felt his cheeks began to glow. She looked up to John again and saw him blush. She didn't expect this and she quickly reacted by closing her half open mouth and softly bit her lower lip with her teeth, then she turned her head away. After a few seconds she said _"We should go back to the others, Shepard."_ She turned around and walked towards the village square. John took a deep breath to make his heart rate drop to a lower level, then he followed her.

Back at the village square they decided to wait for the enemy in the biggest house adjacent to the village square. The disguised hostages were standing on the middle of the square wandering about a bit nervous. The squad, except for Bobby's team, had taken position in the Building. One hostage was in a building on the other side of the village square with a red smoke grenade.

Ten minutes passed by and they didn't hear a thing. Just the soft voices of the men at the village square. When suddenly they heard voices at the edge of the village. The enemy patrol returned and were now entering the village carelessly and were talking very loud. They were completely fooled by the disguised hostages on the village square. When they entered the village square, everything happened very fast. The hostage in the building on the other side of the square triggered the smoke grenade, red smoke came out of the windows. The enemy patrol turned toward that building to investigate the smoke, this way they turned their backs toward John and his squad. When John said _"open fire"_ over his radio, all the squad members lined up their rifles and began to shoot at the enemy. Screams of fear hardly exceeded the sound of the rattling rifles who utterly crushed their foe within seconds. All was silent after that, all their enemy's laid dead on the village square.

_"Carol, get everyone over here, we're leaving in five minutes"_

_"Aye aye"_

_"Brian, let's get that package."_

It turned out to be a small box, with a tiny antennae. John held it in his hand, investigating all sides of it.

_"Brian, see if you can find out where our rally point is."_

While Brian was busy decoding the signal from the strange black box, Bobby entered the village square. Soon followed by Carol and the hostages. Everyone was very excited and happy, they thanked Shepard and his squad for rescuing them. In the distance the sun came up and the sky was turning a little brighter. After a brief moment Brian jumped up shouting _"I got it!"_. He immediately send John the coordinates. _"Only 14 Kilometers, I think this one is going to be a walk in the park."_ Brian said.

Reaching the rally point didn't prove to be any challenge indeed. It was like the beginning of their mission. Cut yourself a way through the jungle until you reach your objective. It turned out that the rally point was an open spot in the forest, so Kodiaks could easily land to pick them up. When everyone was at the open spot John made the call.

_"This is sergeant Shepard, I'm requesting a pickup."_

_"This is carrier drop ship CD35, Specify your location and I'll send you two Kodiaks."_

_"Location would be rally point 3 according to the package, two Kodiaks will not be enough."_

_"Specify."_

_"16 squad members, 27 hostages and 3 prisoners."_

_"All right, I'll send seven Kodiaks instead, I'll inform Captain Anderson."_

_"Ok, Shepard out."_

The squad didn't have to wait very long, after 15 minutes the Kodiaks appeared at the horizon and landed in the open spot. That meant the coordinated were correct. Everybody quickly stepped inside, six Kodiaks were full. John decided to step in the seventh empty Kodiak, he wanted some rest to think about what he would write in his after action report. He was waiting for the Kodiaks to take off when suddenly Carols face peeked inside. _"Shepard!"_ She said smiling and quickly hopped inside and took the seat right next to him.

_"Congratulations with your victory."_ and she gave him a quick kiss on his cheek.

Johns face immediately turned red. _"Well ehm... I didn't do it alone... you know..."_

Carol did her legs and sat snugly. She grabbed his hand with her hands. _"You're still my hero."_ John was completely blindsided by this sudden love attack. Engaged in love by the most beautiful girl he knew, John had become some kind of statue. She put her head on his shoulder and sat until the Kodiak reached the Carrier drop ship. The doors of the Kodiak opened with a hissing sound and they stepped out. They were greeted by captain Anderson. _"Shepard, what did you do down there!"._ Sheppard told Anderson everything we wanted to know. It was at the end of his story that he noticed the man behind Anderson. The man walked towards Shepard. _"Hello Shepard, I think I heard enough. You did a great job for a new recruit and I'm offering you a chance to become even better."_ John stood there speechless. _"Sorry, I didn't introduce myself."_ said the man smiling. _"I'm commander Strawolski, you and mister O'Neil have been scouted to take part in the N1 training course."_. John looked amazed. _"Grab your gear mister Shepard, we're leaving in 5 minutes."_ Carol looked at John playfully _"Told you you're my hero... now you're actually going to be one."_ John turned to Carol and thought _"What do I have to lose."_ and gave her a kiss on her forehead and said _"I'll come and visit you whenever I'm allowed to."_ She was stunned for a moment. Then she grabbed a photo out of her pocket and gave it to John. _"Here take this."_ John took the photo, it was a photo of her smiling. _"oh, and Shepard... call me and e-mail me... please."_ then she walked away.

John and Brian were transferred to _"the villa"_ In Rio de Janeiro where their training began. 16 hours per day of intensive training leading small combat teams through hostile terrain with little sleep or food. After a respectable training record John and Brian received their N1 insignia, which they were very proud of. N2 to N6 came quite quickly as well. all sorts of combat training were required to receive each badge. Things like zero-G combat, military free-fall, jetpack flight, combat diving, combat instructions, linguistics and frontline trauma care for human an alien biology. All parts in which John and Brian excelled, and graduated.

**Six years later**

John was standing in the elevator, next to Brian and his girlfriend Tanya. They met during the N4 training and were pretty close since then. The three of them shared a lot of great moments back at the Interplanetary Combative Training. Tanya and Brian had a lot in common, John did at some point attest that she was the female version of Brian.

John and Carol had been e-mailing a lot, and when John was on earth they called each other every day. Now his training was completed, he earned his N6 insignia. When he informed Carol about it, she was an explosion of excitement. That was two days ago and two days before Christmas. So she forced him, Brian and Tanya into a Christmas dinner at her apartment.

Carol gotten herself her apartment when John left for his training program. It was small but she didn't care, she wasn't there most of the time anyway. Instead she spend most of her time training with the alliance soldiers and studying medics, and she was good at it. At this point she was a medic first class, carrying almost an entire field hospital on her back. She didn't want a big house for another reason as well _"When you have your own space ship, we'll be living there, don't we."_ she mentioned sometimes, to which John replied as _"hmm... I don't know... we'll see..."_. Not giving an actual answer.

_"What will she be cooking"_ Brian suddenly asked.

_"I don't know, her personal status on the Omni tool is marked as busy for the past two days now, I couldn't reach her."_

_"I better hope it's good."_ Brian said. _"I'm starving."_

The elevator Stopped and a _"Ping"_ informed them about their arrival at the desired floor. The green holographic button in front of the door switched and the doors opened. They stepped outside and walked towards Carols place.

When they stood in front of Carols door John rang the bell. Immediately followed with _"Wait a sec."_, coming from inside the house. After a brief moment the door abruptly swung open, There was Carol. John's mouth fell open, he could only think one word _"WOW!"_. Her dark red hair matching her ever beautiful eyes. On her cute face was a happy smile which said _"HI, come in."_ John didn't hear it, he was just standing there stunned. Her black silk gown was matching her hair and face perfectly. Her silver earrings were shining, making her eyes almost glow. In fact, her whole face seemed to shine. Her stilettos were making her a little bit taller. John was sure about it every time he saw her, she was the most beautiful girl in the world.

_"I think he's shell shocked."_ Brian said and hit John on his shoulder. He walked to Carol, gave her three kisses on the cheeks as did Tanya. _"Merry Christmas Carol"_ they said and went inside. Carol looked at John, _"hey Johnny..."_ and she kissed him. _"Congratulations with you N6 achievement."_

_"Oh, it isn't that big... Merry Christmas Carol"_

_"Merry Christmas Johnny."_

It was a lovely evening, and all had a great time. The food Carol made was very good and there was a lot of talking, eating and drinking.

_"So, what's next"_ Carol asked. _"Are you going on a mission soon?"_

_"Yes, as a matter of fact we are, and you are coming with us"_ said John.

Carol looked up in surprise, but John continued _"Anderson told me to ask you, so I will... Carol, I'm raising a company to take part in the campaign on the Skyllian Verge. Would you like to join my team?"_

To which Carol immediately answered with _"Yes, of course I will."_

_"I knew you would say that."_

_"And after that, will you take me on your space ship then?"_

_"If I have one, then yes of course. If the alliance won't agree on stationing you aboard my ship, I'll take you with me as my wife."_

Her head turned red, she didn't expect him to say this, although we wanted him to say it. _"Yes I do"_ she thought.

_"You better look out he won't crash his spaceship into your black hole Carol."_ was Brains genius answer.

everybody laughed, _"what an idiot... but a good one."_ She thought laughing. This way the evening went on, Candles were spreading a cozy light. Brian told them all the funny stories about him and John when they were little, they didn't let the events of the attack spoil the good mood this time. Even Carol mentioned something about her relatives and her life on the colony, until it was time to go for Brian and Tanya. They were tired and had to drive all the way back to _"the villa"_ to sleep. After Carol led them out, he allowed himself to lean against a door frame. putting his hands behind his back. Carol came walking back in

_"Pff, what a night huh?"_

_"Yeah, I had a great time, You're a hell of a cook Carol. Didn't eat that good in years."_

_"Thank you, I had a great time too."_ Carol was walking with a glass of wine, her empty hand was sliding over the dinner table.

_"It's great to have you with me on this mission by the way."_

_"About that"_ She was playing with her glass, taking a nip of wine. _"Did you had to ask it so bluntly?"_ she said with a playful smile.

_"How do you mean?"_

_"Anderson told me to ask you so I will? Is that the only reason you asked me?"_ She walked over to John and pressed her body against him. _"And. If you have a space ship, AND the alliance won't agree on stationing me there. Only then you want me to be your wife?"_ She said naughty, giving him puppy eyes from under her dark red hair.

_"What do you want me to do to make up for those terrible things I said... Sorry?"_ John was playing the game along, sliding his hand behind her head. He pushed her lips against his and kissed her, a kiss happily received. He stroked her cheek with his thumb while he held the back of her neck. She tore herself a little loose from his grip and grabbed him by the collar, looking horny as she bit on her lower lip _"Come on Johnny... I know you can do better than that."_


	3. Skyllian verge

**Skyllian Verge**

John was inside a Kodiak drop ship, towards the landing zone on the moon B4. Carol and Brian were with him, they were strapped as the drop ship shook violently due to the winds. John walked to the side door and opened it, receiving an angry and anxious look from Carol. The wind was pulling his head as he looked into the depth, at least a kilometer. _"Please be careful Johnny." _He looked back to Carol and nodded. _"Don't worry dear."_ He turned his attention back to the theater that unfolded beneath him on the moon surface. _"What a strange moon"_ he thought to himself _"A moon with an actual oxygen supply, they don't need any air helmets."_. The moon was the home base of the Battarian slavers army. Captain Anderson called this base a fortress. John saw neither a base nor a fortress, it was an actual mountain dug hollow by the Battarians to create the strongest base one could imagine. The surface of the mountain was dotted with holes from which the Battarians were shooting at their enemy with cannons. This enemy was humanity, and they were besieging the mountain. The attackers had trenches dug around the mountain about 10 kilometers away. Those ten kilometers between the trenches and the mountain was a vast _"no mans land."_ The trenches were largely shrouded in dust, caused by the Battarians heavy artillery shells. Inside the dust cloud John could see the orange flashed of exploding shells. Little dots were moving from the mountain towards the trenches. The sound of the wailing shells became louder as the Kodiak loosed altitude. Carol and Brian came to stand beside him, Carols only reaction was _"Oh my god..."_. John stepped outside the Kodiak as soon as it touched the ground, he was followed by Carol. Brian took leave of John and Carol, he went to the rally point of his personal Company as John was walking towards his. The ground was gray and a bit muddy. Up ahead he saw the dust cloud rising up, the same he saw in the drop ship. The rattling sounds of the guns was interrupted by the sounds of whistling and exploding shells that shook the ground. On their way to the rally point they were greeted by a militiaman who coolly said _"Welcome to hell."_ and walked on, the man pulled one leg. John looked at Carol and pulled his shoulders. _"I thought this would be a walk in the park, at least that's what the volunteer posters said."_ Carol sounded a little scared. _"Since when do volunteer posters speak the truth huh?"_ John answered. Finally they arrived at their Company's rally point. He was saluted by his personal Company, consisting of almost all the recruits from Mindoir. John who was wearing the helmet of his father, also dressed up like a militiaman. In fact, the whole company dressed up like militiamen. He did keep his heavy semi-automatic weapon though. Carol was standing next to John while he faced his Company, putting one leg on a little rock and shouted. _"Who are you D-Company?"_, to which all the men replied at once _"DEATH COMPANY!"_ And bumped their heels. _"Listen up Death Company, I just got the mission details and I'm not happy with them."_ He looked at the faces of the men. Afraid to die, determined to follow him. _"We will aid the defenders first, and will take part in the February offensive the next month."_ He took his rifle from his shoulder and pointed towards the Mountain. _"The enemy is well fortified as you all might have noticed. That's the reason why the alliance didn't have any progress the past two years. So they came up with the genius plan to have a special forces team, dressed up like militia to fool the enemy, entering their base. If we live to take part in the attack, we're to hop into the belly of the beast. Take their general alive and hop back out."_ John took a short break in his briefing to make sure the message got through to them. The men talked restless _"Don't be ashamed if you die before the attack, a little 800 soldiers die in the trenches every day... Attach you bayonets men, the enemy is already attacking."_ And so John ran, followed by his company towards the gray wall of death that covered their trenches until it swallowed them.

They were immediately greeted by a wailing Shell exploding just next to the trench, Showering the men in grey dirt, The mud stuck to their faces. Battarians jumped into the trench, most of them were shot before they could line up their weapon. John's Company did a good job, blocking the trench with four men walking shoulder to shoulder pointing their weapon in front of them. Their Bayonets where glowing in the orange glow of the explosions. The men behind the first line of soldiers were keeping an eye on both of the topsides of the trench. The bottom of the trench was littered with corpses, and the blood soaked ground created a mud where they sank up to their ankles. A Battarian who jumped right in front of John was stabbed by the man next to him. His bayonet went right through the head, he drew his weapon up which ripped the head open with a crackling sound. Blood and brains spattered the faces of the first line. John pushed the man back _"Hold the line!"_ He shouted, while they moved forward step by step. His voice was almost inaudible because of the loud explosions of the shells. Death Company was passed by a Alliance soldier who wandered the trench, he didn't note the whole Company standing in front of him, He just kept wandering forward. A heavy hitter blew away part of the trench up ahead, the man fell to his knees. Death Company was shaking through the trench, the man crawled back on his feet and walked through the ranks of Death Company saying nonstop _"Got to get out of here... got to get out of here."_. The Blood and mud that covered the man gave his glassy eyes and his sickly smile a scary look, but John could read the pain and fear from the man's face. He ordered his men to proceed and to ignore the man.

A loud Whistling of more than ten shells were very close. A multitude of explosions just 200 meters up ahead, the theatrical light show of flashing amber lights that succeeded each other rapidly left the men of Death Company shocked. Everything must have been utterly wiped of the moon, the explosions created a shockwave that made the ears of the men whiz. John barked some orders but no one reacted, Death Company kept proceeding through the trench toward the next turn. Battarians came running around the corner and immediately began shooting at Death Company, Who returned the favor. The man next to John was shot in this stomach and fell forward, buried himself in the mud and kept writhing. Another man took his place en fired his rifle, while the terrible chaos of battle audible returned to their ears. The result was a terror scene, wounded men who tried to hold grip at the wall of the trench or were simply leaning against it for support while they looked at their wounds. John fired his rifle and hit a Battarian in his leg, the bullet splintered the bone and the leg snapped. Making the experience of the gunfight none the better for the Battarians. Screams of men and beasts that filled the trench tried to exceed the sound of the incessant volleys of shots. Lungs and stomachs were penetrated, while the number if living Battarians ever decreased until they fled. A last-ditch attempt to go over the top back to the Battarian Lair that lured on the other side of no man's land. Most of the fleeing Battarians didn't make it, they were slain before they reached the top of the trench and their limp bodies slipped back into the trench. The bottom of the trench was like a can of rotting meat being covered by maggots. Carol was dragging with injured men to see who could be patched, digging between corpses to look for a living soul. _"what a disgusting scene"_ John thought. The intensity of explosions decreased as did the Battarians in numbers, apparently they sounded the retreat, hide in their lair to lick their wounds. _"The day is ours"_ shouted the men, _"Victory for the alliance"_. the day was theirs indeed, although it came with a great cost, 27 men of Death company died.

John heard a shouting voice behind him and turned around, _"Shoot me! Please"_. A young boy around the age of 16 was standing in a shell crater, a boy with both his arms blown off. He was crying, but he didn't knew. _"come on, lieutenant, put me out of my misery."_ His old lieutenant stood doubting he was clearly struggling, but took his side arm and walked to the boy. The lieutenant put his sidearm on the head of the boy while his knees gave out and sat down. _"Do you have anything to say Jimmy?"_ Jimmy said nothing but his lieutenant did, while what was left of their Company gathered around them. Sadness overtook everyone in the Company, they took of their helmets and held them in front of their chests.

_"I knew a simple soldier boy, _

_who grinned at life in empty joy._

_Slept soundly through the lonesome dark, _

_and whistled early with the lark._

_In muddy trenches, cowed and glum,_

_with shells and lice and lack of rum._

_I put a bullet through his brain,_

_no one speaks of him again."_

He fired his sidearm once and the boy felt to his side. Then all was silent for a while, until a man in the distance climbed up a wall and stood shouting. _"MEDIC!"_ he waited a brief moment _"MEDIC!"_, he was shouting his lungs out. John nodded towards Carol and she understood, She grabbed her gear and ran towards the man. Some vague dull pops at the background, but all was quiet now. The wind was blowing the dust clouds away. A very horrifying scene revealed itself, he saw the uncountable amount of corpses that covered almost the entire no man's land. Some fresh and some in an advanced stage of decomposition. The smell was unbearable, considering that one wasn't here long enough to get used to it. Suddenly he heard the impact of a shell, but it wasn't high explosive. A man climbed on top of a wall and looked with his hands above his eyes, then he shouted _"GAS!"_ . Pointing out the direction with his other hand. John stood transfixed _"Carol was there"_ he thought. _"Company, gas masks!"_ and Death Company put on their gasmasks. _"Follow me"_ he shouted, and all the men followed him.

When they arrived at the trench, they saw what was left of the Company stationed there, was lying on the bottom of the trench, victims of the gas. Black faces, tunic and shirt were ripped open at their necks in a last desperate fight for air. Many of them were idle, while others were still crawling and showed convulsions in the most horrifying agony John did ever see. Some were also wounded, and blood was still flowing from their open wounds. Then he saw Carol, she was massaging her throat. John doubted she knew, or felt, that she had only one hand left and that there was only a stump where her other hand had been. With that stump she worked her throat like her hand was still there, the blood that came from the wound flowed over her face and neck... John felt on his knees at her side, his knees sucked stuck in the mud. _"NOOOOOOOOOO!"_ He screamed as he was shaking and crying, he lifted her head and laid it in his lap. His hand was stroking her hair, while his other hand tried to pull away her stump arm. Her glass eyes looked right through him, while the gesture with her hand and stump was still very furious. _"CAN YOU HEAR ME!"_ but she gave no reaction, her glass look didn't change a second. John grabbed his sidearm, his arm was shaking and felt heavy as he pointed his gun at her head. Tears mingled with the blood and mud on his face as he pulled the trigger _"BANG!"_, to relieve her of her pain, while his heart was slowly bleeding dry.

Days and weeks passed by where nothing happened, it was shelling a bit here and there. Life in the trenches was like living as a caveman. They were living outside for 16 days in a row, in little muddy dug out burrows. When the men crept into their burrows where the temperature was more pleasant, then the lice came from their shelters inside the clothes. They were their bosom friends. While the men were physically and mentally completely exhausted, because of the lice they could not sleep. Some man were crying and cursed the lice and the one who created them. No man's land was like a big graveyard with mutilated corpses, dying or dead. Some of those corpses were friends of the men who lived in the trenches. One day John helped a soldier who was throwing up_."Hey easy man, what happened?"_

_"His body was rotten, I was almost sick... something rather big crashed on top of him. And when I saw him I thought... Christ! we were able to bury him, we were able to cover him... And that sickly giant rat ran out of his arm after his meal. A horrible giant beast ran out, I had to throw up..."_

After weeks in the blood-filled trenches the men did not brush the flies away anymore, nor blanch however fierce the hum of passing shells. The mud. They slept in it, ate in it. Kilometer after kilometer it stretched, a sea of stinking mud, Created by the blood of millions. The mud was where the dead found their grave, and the wounded died in it. Men slipped over the edges of enormous shell craters filled with mud and blood... On both sides of the trench was the waste of war... an arm over here, a leg over there. It was a nightmare... finally the break of dawn, a hopeless break of dawn. Shell craters and more mud. upturned rifles with bayonets pointed to the sky, they marked the places where men died or were sunk in the mud.

To make things even better, the offensive was delayed four months due to lack of volunteers. So after a few weeks the press came by, not to the actual battle of course, general Heinkel was way too scared they would write something about the horrible conditions in the trenches. So they were allowed to take pictures at the drop zone, and in no situation at the direction of the trenches and the mountain. When John and Brian were being photographed by a reporter, they asked him a copy of the photo. And the reporter gave them their copies and was already leaving. The reporters were a little scared and the soldiers didn't want to take part in their interviews anyway.

John and Brian met each other every day, just to check if the other one was still alive. They sometimes sat down and talked a bit. Trench life was cruel on Brian, it made his feet rot an smell like a dead man. _"I still can't believe Carol is dead, I loved her you know... somehow those low-life Battarians keep killing everyone I love."_ Said John.

Brian sat silent and looked to the sky. _"Will we die here John? I almost want to, seems like the only way to get out of this hellhole. I want to go home... I want to go home." _Brian started to cry._ "I don't want to go in the trenches no more, Those whizz-bang and shrapnel they whistle and roar. Oh my, I want to die. May god in common pity destroy us one and all"_

After 147 days in the trenches, the day of the great offensive was finally there. This was the day that they were going over the top. Rush to the enemy base, and capture its general. The minister of military, general Heinkel, made it all sound so easy. Now all lieutenants were gathering their Company and line them up inside the trench. Suddenly the trench became a busy place. The enemy must have seen the sudden outbreak of enthusiasm in the alliance lines, shelling became more intense. When everyone was gathered, John and Brian Joined their men. Brains objective was to take and hold hill 11. This was supposed to be a good lookout point to cover John's battalion when they came back out of the enemy base.

John saw Brian standing with his eyes closed waiting for the signal in his helmet radio, Johns whistle was hanging around his neck. It seemed like a lifetime, and that was exactly what he saw in his mind. His father who was blown to bits, His mother who was taken away, His sister who was injected with some strange kind of poison and of course Carol who's death made John sick again. All were killed by Battarians, he felt his blood boiling. He didn't really care if he was going to die anymore, maybe a random shell would end his life. N6 didn't mean that you could dodge an artillery grenade. Or maybe he would be mowed down by crossfire. As the time passed by the men were growing more tense and scared. _"what were they waiting for." _they were waiting while shell exploded all around them. and just as he was thinking that, a shell exploded 50 meters to his right, in the middle of the trench. A loud _"BANG!"_ tore the men who stood there apart. All kind of body parts flew through the air, raining down on the anxiously waiting men. The men near the explosion were thrown to the ground, as was John. His ears hurt from the explosion, and he was breathing heavily while he dragged himself on his feet again. _"BEEEEEEEEEEEP!"_ John reacted to this signal "_global attack"_ by blowing his whistle, _"This is it men, over the top, the moment of glory!"_ All men showed a loud war cry as they climbed over the top. Only the ones close to the explosion didn't react, they were deaf, but as they saw that the rest began to move, they started their attack. John climbed over the top as well, Brian was already running in front of him. He raised his weapon into the sky and shouted _"For the alliance... ever onward!"_, and so they did. Everyone stormed forward towards the slowly looming mountain, it was a free for all death rush. Shells came whistling down from heaven and exploded with thundering violence. The heavy Battarian machineguns mowed down humans at an alarming rate, Ripping of limbs and heads. But the number of storming humans ejaculating a war cry exceeded the death factor of the monstrous anger of the cannons. John was just missed by a heavy shell and blown to the left. He crashed down in a pile of corpses, when he looked up he saw Brian. He reached the foot of hill 11. Brian pulled men from the mud, putted them right on their feet and drove them up the hill. He was barking orders and made sure everyone kept attacking. _"Do not linger! Keep on the offensive."_ Some of his men were crouching up the hill, and some didn't even have a weapon anymore. But still they attacked, so great was their hate and the need to avenge their fallen comrades. John got back upon his feet and started running again. Brian and John looked at each other, both raised their hand to greet the other. The size of the dread mountain was ever increasing, he passed men who were dying in exhaustion, lost their limps or were wandering no man's land like mindless zombie's. Shells of beings that were once men, shellshock, a terrible way to go. John kept running, he could recognize an entrance leading into the cave, pouring out Battarians who lined up in front of the cave. All militiamen and soldiers who ran in front of John clashed with the Battarians with bayonets, bullets, hands, feet and nails. Humans jumped against the enemy, and took them to the ground. They crawled upon their foe and stabbed them like voodoo dolls, mutilating their enemy with bitter ferocity before they killed them. Battarians shot the humans right of their comrades, in a desperate attempt to save them. John was close now and together with other committed evil faces he stormed the enemy, roaring their ferocious battle cry. They did not shoot, that would make them an easy stationary target. They had to come close to the entrance so they were outside the angle of the artillery and the machine guns. A major weak spot of the enemy, there the battle was man to man. John bashed into an enemy, planting his shoulder against the chin of the enemy and stabbed his bayonet right through him, the bayonet crushed the backbone of the Battarian. He drew his weapon back out of the body, then it collapsed onto his knees. John rammed his enemy's head with the back of his rifle en moved towards his next victim who turned his back towards him. John cut the back of his enemy, he made a deep open cut from its shoulder to its hip and his enemy fell forward. John knelt down to aimed for a target, he found a doubting Battarian. _"BANG!"_ Shot his entire knee off, and crippled his enemy who was desperately trying to stop the bleeding with his hands. He saw another guy from death Company who slit the underbelly of a foe, its intestines and other entrails slid out. The enemy soldier tried to catch them and looked terrified for his vain attempt to push his inner body back in. Enemies that came just running out of the mountain saw the sudden outbreak of cruelty and determination by the Humans and withdrew into the mountain to set up a perimeter elsewhere. This invitation to enter hell was gladly accepted by John and the men who were standing outside. 11 men of death Company were still alive, he reinforced it with other men who were lingering around. It didn't matter what Company they were, they just had to keep pushing the enemy. John grabbed his men, pulling them out of the mud and drove them to the entrance, Just before he entered the mountain he looked back to where they came from. Hill 11 could better be renamed to Hell 11, Artillery was hammering down on top of the hill and the Alliance was desperately defending it against a horde of attacking Battarians. John hoped from the bottom of his heart that Brian would live through that hill and was able to greet them on their retreat. Another wave of humans was climbing over the top of the trenches, another 80.000 souls charging the mountain. Then john and his company entered the belly of the beast, through a dark and stinking hole in the mountain.

They were moving deep into the mountain. They didn't see any enemy for an hour and their ranks were increased by the reinforcements from the second wave. Along the sides of the cave were mutilated and decomposing humans and Battarians, at a certain point there were only Battarian corpses so they must have penetrated the mountain further than any other human before. After a long and exhausting climb down inside the mountain they heard a lot of noise, low voices and cheer. They entered a room, and by the looks of it this had to be a main hall. Thousands of Battarians were gathered here, and on a stage was a Battarian giving them a speech. His armor decorated according to the typical Battarian general rank, he learned that during his N2 training. _"That has to be their general"_ John thought to himself. John couldn't linger any longer, hundreds of casualty's every minute and Brian was still on that hill waiting for them. He was in the shadow of the entrance leading into the hall and his Company was waiting right behind him. John lined up his weapon and aimed for their general, his bayonet glittered a bit due to the bonfires in the hall. _"BANG!"_ This echoing blast through the hall was mangled by the sound of shattered bones, and followed by a roar of pain. _"BANG!"_ Both the generals kneepads were crushed, his knees flipped the wrong way and he collapsed. The whole hall was suddenly an outbreak of screams, anger and the blasting sound of rifles. John leaped to the closest piece of cover while the rest of the alliance soldiers rushed inside_. "Quick, grab their general, do not let them take him somewhere safe, we need him alive!"_ all the alliance soldiers answered with a loud and whipping _"ROOO AH!"_ it made the enemy a little unsure.

The battle that followed would probably the hardest and most intense battle of John's life. A hall where almost 200 exhausted starving humans were facing thousands of exhausted and starving Battarians. _"Willpower is the key men! Let them not frighten you by their horrible looks... NO MERCY, FOR YOU WILL NOT RECIEVE ANY!"_ The humans who did have cover behind pillars were shooting at the uncovered Battarians, creating a mass grave that has never seen before. Thousands of the Battarians were shot, crushed or trampled. When the Battarians overcame the shake of the surprise attack they began to return fire, leaving the humans still outnumbered. Sergeants were leading men that could be called squads to the flanks of the Battarians, soon the humans were attacking the Battarians from multiple sides. The original members of Death Company were staying close to John while the others were moving and attacking in assault groups varying in size. John ordered his 11 original company members to follow him, to the rest he shouted _"Charge!"_. The Battarians were shaken by surprise again, they couldn't believe their enemy was so stupid to charge them head on. But the humans came out of cover all at once and ran toward the Battarians with endless fury and determination while they emptied their magazines at the enemy. The leaders urged their men to attack _"Come on men this is it... embrace eternity... "_ They clashed with the Battarians and John could hear the Sergeants shouting and barking _"Attack... Death is our friend... we spit in the face of fear..." . _The soldiers answered every short sentence with a loud war cry. But John moved around the fight towards their general who was trying to crawl his way out. But John planted his boot on his back and pushed him violently to the ground _"Where do you think you're going? I hope you weren't planning to flee, maggot?"_ The general growled, John's reaction was a hard bash with the back of his rifle. The Battarian winced but john didn't had any pity. He tied a rope around the neck of the General and tied his hands, his legs were crippled already. Death company dragged him to the exit of the room, pulling the rope around the neck of the General. John shouted the fighting men to cover their retreat, to which a sergeant saluted. They stared each other in the eyes, John knew he asked a terrible thing and the sergeant knew it as well, but still he saluted and he was willing to give his and his men's lives to cover his retreat. John saluted the sergeant, _"such bravery and honor will not be forgotten"_ He shouted, turned around and followed his men who were already at the exit.

The battarian was growling and shouting, but the men of Death Company ignored him. The cave was dark and wet, they could not see very far and the echoing sound of water drops made a rhythm. Suddenly they heard gunshots up ahead, one of the men of Death Company was shot through the head and fell backwards _"Cover"_ Shouted John, and returned fire, Another Death Company guy died. The enemy was suffering as well, John heard their screams. The Company was in cover and soon an intense gunfight was raging in the cave. A hailstorm of bullets was raining both ways, it was impossible to aim for a target. He heard the enemy captain shout orders _"Attach Bayonets, we'll charge them"_. John was stunned, _"Fuck!"_ he put his hands to his mouth and shouted _"FRIENDLY FIRE... FRIENDLY FIRE!"_. Another Death Company soldier fell. Suddenly the cave was quite and John cautiously left cover, he walked over to the other side followed by Death Company and their hostage. The others were indeed humans, _"What a disaster"_ John thought. Apparently the other lieutenant was having an even harder time, he was walking back and forth with one hand before his eyes clearly nervous. The man turned towards John.

"_sorry man, I didn't know… they said no one from the first and second wave survived, so we thought you were the enemy… You did sound like a Battarians though."_

"_Apparently there are some survivors, but very little. We do have a Battarian hostage, that might have fooled you."_

"_What now, I mean… why are we going in here?"_

"_For the reason I'm in here, to capture this guy"_ John pointed at the Battarian General.

"_So now we should go back or something? I can't contact HQ from here, bad connection due to the mountain."_

"_We are probably being chases very soon, why don't you set up a perimeter here to hold them off as long as you can, buys us some more time."_

"_But we might get killed."_

"_Listen! If we don't get this hostage to HQ all those men died for nothing. This is the most important objective in the entire offensive. If we get him back we will end this terrible nightmare."_

"_Aye aye"_

The both lieutenants saluted each other, John took his Company to the exit of the mountain while the other lieutenant began to prepare for incoming hostiles. The men of Death Company were silent while they marched through the mountain, the friendly fire accident left another deep scar on their souls. They lost comrades and shot some friendly soldiers themselves, _"terrible" _ he thought. After some time they heard some vague shooting back in the cave, it confirmed Johns suspicion that they were being chased. The other soldiers heard it too and knew what it meant, without orders they all increased their pace. After an hour or so they reached the exit of the mountain, the Battarians closed in on them, they could hear soft voices in the distance. The bright light of the systems sun burned in their eyes as they walked out, it took a while before they could see clearly. The battarian general was unconscious, they quickly checked for life signs. He was breathing and his heart was beating, that was enough life signs a Battarian was allowed to have for Johns part_. "Now men, we'll cross no man's land again. We will do it for those who crossed it with us, but will never cross again."_ The men nodded, their faces were grim. They grabbed the hostage by the arms legs and head and began to run, as fast as the terrain of body's an rocks allowed them to. They were the only ones in no man's land, not a living soul as far as they could see. Soon after they left the cave, uncountable Battarians came running out of the mountain, but they were greeted by heavy machine guns from hill 11. Aiming for the exit without picking targets, anyone who would try to get out of that cave was a dead man. They kept running until they were on the foot of hill 11, John could see Brian and they waved at each other. But John had to move on with the hostage while Brian had to keep the Battarians who chased John at bay. After a minute or so there was an Artillery barrage, John looked behind him and saw that hill 11 was a fountain of mud. Shells were hammering down on hill 11 so fast that it looked like some kind of artillery machine gun, and it kept going for a couple of minutes. John kept running while he hoped for the best, but prepared for the worst. There was no chance in the world Brian could have survived that. He drove his men to greater speed because there was no one to cover them on their retreat anymore. Battarian machine gunners must have tracked them, machine gun bullets were focusing on them, they were running and running with their fingers crossed. They could see men in the trenches looking over the top, sounds of cheer en encouragement filled the men of Death Company with the will to make that last run to the trenches. One man of Death Company was shot in his back, John and the rest had to move on with the hostage. The man was moaning and screaming and begging for them to wait, but John had to ignore him, the mission was too important. But brave soldiers came climbing out of the trench and passed John and his Company towards the wounded man, They ran to aid their fallen battle brother, carrying him back to the trenches. Cheers and gunfire while every man in the trench began to shoot at Johns pursuers. They encouraged John and his men towards the landing zone, another Death Company member fell with his face in the mud, but a soldier dragged him on his feet and another soldier took place with carrying their hostage. Their run through the trenched was most exhausting to the already exhausted men, but everyone they passed heartened them and then they followed them. They sank into the mud to their ankles and they had to look out for corpses as well. But finally, at last... they arrived at the landing zone, followed by hundreds of men. There they made the call _"We got him"_. John was breathing heavily on his hands and knees, then he sat down with his back against a crate of some sort. Looking at the sky, every men followed his lead and sat down. _"Is it really over now?"_ he asked the men. No one reacted, the smiles on their faces were cold. He never felt so exhausted in his entire life. There he was sitting while his hostage came back to consciousness, he was looking around in disbelief.

Anderson walked over to John while others loaded the hostage, until he stood next to John looking towards the trenches.

_"How bad was it?"_

_"Bad"_

_"John come with me, I want you to be examined by Dr. Chakwas"_

_"I can't, I'm waiting on a friend."_

Anderson sighed _"I don't think he survived, you better come with me"_ and he touched Johns shoulder.

_"LET GO OF ME... I'm waiting for Brian, that's it... He can't be dead... I don't allow him to be dead!"_ Johns face was grim.

Anderson let go of John shoulder and turned around _"Just... don't wait too long ok?"_ then he walked towards the Kodiak drop ship while he shook his head.

After three days of waiting Brian still didn't return to him. _"So many strange faces, there is really almost no one I knew who was there when I arrived."_. It was awfully quiet in the army base, even though they did have their victory.

John tried to get the facts of this war sorted out. The alliance had the Battarians on the run and drove them back to their home base which was this strange mountain. They could have gained the victory with a blockade that blocked the Battarians and starved them to death until they surrendered. That would have been a victory... But general Heinkel, the minister of military wanted a _"glorious victory"_. So he came up with his great strategy to surround the enemy and attack the base to capture the enemy general, "_that would be a great victory to humanities self esteem." _he said. In fact it was most profitable for his own career, to become a general for the citadel council. But what he didn't mention in his strategy was the number of men it would require when he smashed them against the mountain wave after wave, he blocked all the reports that came in from the front line. Letting the people believe that is was all about _"Target practicing on mindless Battarians, while comrades sat safely in a trench."_, this way he received a lot of volunteers, _"Young boys will become men, and men will have status because they fought for their race."_, at a certain point one was considered a softy if he didn't sign up. The military intelligence was stonewalling everyone who asked any question about the war _"It will be a walk in the park, your boys and husbands will be back before you know it."_. General Heinkel was prepared to sacrifice the lives of 7 million men for his personal success. Even more men lost their spirit due to the shell shock, their bodies were the shells of the men who they once were. _"What a glorious victory..."_ John thought to himself.

_"John Shepard?"_

John looked up

_"Are you John Shepard?"_ Asked a gray haired women

_"Yes"_

_"How are you holding up son?"_ She said considerate, while she looked at him examining.

_"Pretty well, sitting here waiting isn't really hard work..."_

_"I'm Karin Chakwas, pleased to meet you"_

_"You're that doctor Anderson mentioned huh... well, I'm not going with you... I'M NOT MAD!"_ John was nervous and scared

Chakwas nodded to someone and said _"Then we'll take you with us"_ two men grabbed John and dragged him to the Kodiak.

_"BRIAAAANNN!"_ John flailed his arms and legs around. _"LET GO OF MEE... I'M NOT MAAAD!... BRIAAAAAANN!"_

John was tossed into the Kodiak and two marines and Dr. Chakwas stepped inside as well. John sat hunched in a corner looking at the wall. Dr. Chakwas shook her head, she felt sorry for John. _"What happened out there John? The media and alliance intelligence don't want to say anything about it. The media say's that it was all about hanging in a safe trench and killing mindless Battarians, they said it was a walk in the park."_John gave her an angry look _"We did hang around in trenched yes... and we did kill Battarians... But it wasn't the least bit amusing."_They said nothing else on their way to Andersons spaceship the _"SSV Normandy"_.

On the Normandy John met Anderson who had gathered his belongings and put them in a room behind the medical bay. The rest of Death Company was already onboard and soon they were going to leave this rotten place. Anderson was setting course for Earth because general Heinkel wanted to honor the men who captured the Battarian general, and to give John his N7 insignia most personally due to his outstanding actions on moon B4. This inauguration was out on a square somewhere in London. He sent John a text file with a speech that he was supposed to give when Heinkel asked him about the Skyllian Verge campaign. He was sitting on the edge of his bed in his private room as he read the file, a load of bullshit about how nice and easy it all was and that he had a great time with his mates, John deleted the file and grabbed Carols photograph from his backpack. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he recalled the death of Carol, he sniffed and tried to swallow the lump in his throat.

_"Carol... please, I would give my life to hear your voice again." _He was talking to Carols picture _"Please come back and hold me..."_ *sniff* _"Just to hug me and kiss me, so I can die a happy man..."_

Dr. Chakwas walked in and was a bit overwhelmed to see him in so much grief, she quickly walked over to him and sat down beside him. She stroked his back with her hand and gently pushed his head against her shoulder _"Don't worry John, You're gonna be ok... just give it some time."_John was still crying and spilled tears and snot on her shoulder, apparently she didn't care. She gave him all the time he needed and looked at Carols photograph _"She was very pretty John"._ She held John tight as she rubbed his upper arm... _"What happened to him, what horrifying things did he see?"_ She thought to herself while John had fallen asleep with his head on her shoulder. After some time she put him in bed, and covered him with a blanket.

The next morning John woke up and wondered how he got in his bed, he didn't remember it. He was sitting on the edge of his bed again and rubbed his eyes, then he dressed up and walked to the door. When the door opened he saw Karin already busy in her lab, she was humming a song and snapped her fingers while she was walking from workbench to workbench. _"Hello"_ John said, _"Good morning John, did you sleep well?"_ Karin replied. John suddenly remembered who put him to bed and what happened the evening before, he began to blush. _"Ah.. I see the color is returning to your skin, you're still alive. Don't be ashamed, I've seen men cry before and it's not weird after so much traumatic events."_ She said as she continued her work. _"You better get ready for your moment in the spotlight lieutenant, we'll arrive there shortly."_

The sun was shining and the cheers of the crowd was deafening, women with little alliance flags and confetti was falling down from the sky. Women hugged the soldiers and were trying to dance with them while they proceeded through the crowd, but the soldiers didn't really enjoyed it. Fanfare music was exceeding the loud cheers and talk of joy. The group of soldiers moved towards the main podium. When they arrived in front of it, the fanfare stopped playing and a suited guy on stage started to speak to the crowd through a microphone._"Our heroes have arrived!"_ The crowd cheered. _"They will be honored for their heroism and because they make humanity proud."_ Another cheer. _"They made this man's glorious victory"_ he said as his hand pointed towards the man who just walked on stage, is was general Heinkel.

_"Thank you bobby"_ he said as he grabbed the microphone _"we have triumphed and we will always triumph, because we are humanity, as long as we stand together against our enemies."_ The crowd agreed loudly. _"We showed the Battarians the meaning of strength by sending our best soldiers at them and capturing their General, I call that tactical superiority. It broke the enemy and they surrendered. And that's why I want to honor the heroes who did that, here and now. Come on up you lads."_ He said while he waved to john and the rest of Death Company to come on stage, and so they did. When they stood all lined up looking at the crown John saw a lot of soldiers and militiamen. tens of thousands along with the women and children, but the soldiers and militiamen were fully dressed up in their army uniform. General Heinkel first congratulated all members of Death Company by nailing a badge of honor on their uniforms, then he faced John. He looked at him and talked in his microphone _"And for you we have also this N7 badge, you've earned it."_ and gave him the N7 badge. _"Tell us about your victory John, how pathetic were those Battarians?"_ He gave the microphone to John who walked to the front of the stage and put the microphone in its holder. He made the saluting gesture with his right hand and clapped his heels, followed by the men of Death Company and all the soldiers and militiamen on the square. The result was a dead silence, John looked at Anderson and nodded. He looked back at the crowd and began to talk.

_"What passing-bells for these who die as cattle? Only the monstrous anger of the guns, only the stuttering rifles rapid rattle. No mockeries for them from prayers of bells, nor any voice of mourning save the choirs, the shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells... We crossed a field rotten and vile, a graveyard, a living hell. 7 million of our friend laid between our trench en their base, mutilated, rotting, creating a muddy swamp due to all their blood. A muddy swamp were our feet began to rot... A muddy swamp were your sons and husbands drowned in. A hell where sons and husbands lost their minds. No doubt they'll soon get well, the shock and strain have caused their stammering, disconnected talk. Of course they're longing to go out again, these boys with old, scared faces, learning to walk. They soon forget their haunted nights, their cowed subjection to the ghosts of friends who died. Their dreams that drip with murder, and they'll be proud of glorious war that shattered all their pride... Men who went out to battle, grim and glad, children, with eyes that hate you, broken and mad. The restless dead that lay scattered in no man's land, wave after wave, glorious victory was the goal, But is it?... Is it glorious that so many died for one man's greed for power? To all of you I'd like to say... the man who call's this his glorious victory is the actual enemy of humanity."_

General Heinkel felt a icy chill creeping down his spine as he slowly walked off stage. The crowd was silence they were overwhelmed by the reality of the war, this was the total opposite of what they heard for years.

_"Your sons would become men... only to be scarred for life. Your husbands would be granted greater status... only inside a room in the madhouse. We will never be the same again, we're shells of those we were before we went out to war... a distant history. Perhaps... Maybe... some of us might find themselves, or love. It takes a lot of effort and time, it takes a caring wife."_

__**Authors note:  
**This chapter concludes the into of my story, I hope everyone enjoys it. And of course leave a comment, there are always things that need improving.


	4. Eden prime

**Eden prime**

John was sitting in his private room behind the medical bay and was reading some news flashes. His room was quite small but he didn't need a big one, his gear was thrown a corner like a pile of junk. Three quiet months passed by since his speech in London, it shocked the world and a lot of investigations were started. Investigators didn't got many answers from the men who fought there though, but the sight of no man's land worked miracles. The newspapers had a weekly update about facts and a lot of pictures. The mad men who were suffering from shellshock were at least treated properly as far as it was possible. General Heinkel stepped down as General and was thrown in jail. His successor was admiral Steven Hacket, a realistic man, commander of the fifth alliance fleet. Admiral Hacket, Captain Anderson and some Councilor named _"Udina"_ pushed John forward as a spectre candidate. John didn't have any idea what that meant but he didn't had anything better to do so he accepted. Anderson said it had something to do with the face of humanity and that it was a great honor to be one. They were now flying through space in the _SSV Normandy_ towards the Citadel, some kind of large space station. A strange passenger was onboard as well, John saw him almost everywhere he looked, as if there were a 100 of them. He walked towards a window and looked outside, stars as far as he could see and it bored him to tears. It was like an endless stream... blue, yellow red... hour after hour. He was always intrigued by space, but he never thought it was that vast. He was just pinning up his N7 Badge as Dr. Chakwas walked in.

_"Hey John."_ She said with a smile, holding a tray. She was wearing her lab tunic.

_"Hey Dr. Chakwas."_ John turned his head. He didn't expected her.

_"How many times do I have to tell you, you can just call me Karin."_ She said with a playful anger.

_"Hello Karin."_

_"Look I brought you some tomato soup."_ She showed John the tray with two cups of tomato soup, baguette and herb butter.

_"Ah thanks, I can use that."_ Rubbing his belly. Both of them sat down at a little table.

_"How are you holding up John, were you thinking of her again?"_ she said with a motherly gaze

_"I was just bored, space is just so vast."_

_"HAHAHA..."_ They laughed uproariously _"By the way, I spoke to that Nihlus again, he is just so eager to examine you."_ she said with an irritated face, she was blowing her soup filled spoon to cool it down and ate it.

_"Yeah about that... why is that Turian with us, thought the Normandy wasn't some kind of passenger ship."_ John was enjoying his meal too, especially the baguette tasted well.

_"Don't know, David doesn't want to say anything about it."_

_"We'll find out soon enough, I suppose."_

_"John, you're showing a remarkable job in controlling your post traumatic stress."_ she suddenly changed the subject, avoiding his eyes.

_"Do you have a crush on me?"_ said John teasingly.

_"No haha..."_ She hit his shoulder with the back of her hand. _"I'm a doctor, it's my job to keep an eye on you, but about your progress. Well, you're actually able to go on with your life. It intrigues me, I want to know what you saw... when you're ready to talk about it off course."_

_"huh...well... not now ok?"_

_"You just need a lot of time and effort, as you said yourself."_ They sat some time silently, until John broke the silence again.

_"Any idea where we're going? Anderson said he changed the course"_

_"Eden prime, a colony planet."_

_"Ok, why? I thought we were heading for the Citadel?"_ he looked up in surprise, while he was just putting a spoon in his mouth.

_"Yes, but there is something the researchers found there, and it's on our route so we were ordered by Admiral Hacket to take a look."_ She laconically waved her hand, as if it was of little importance. They were talking on sociable, until they finished their meal.

_"It was nice eating with you Doc... Karin."_ John said when they were done eating.

_"The pleasure was all mine."_ As she stood up and put all the leavings back on the tray. She walked towards the exit, turned her head towards John and smiled while she softly waved one hand in way of greeting.

After some time John went to the mess and ordered three cups of coffee, he took the coffee to the cockpit. When he arrived there he gave Joker and Kaidan a cup of coffee, Joker was the helmsman of the ship and Kaidan was the leader of a Company called _"Alenko Company"_ named after his surname. John's own Death Company was fully reinforced with fresh recruits, John was supposed to train an educate them to make them his personal trained Company. The eight survivors from the Skyllian Verge campaign were still in Death Company, now they were training the new boys. All original Death Company boys decided to remain in the military as a team to support each other, they've been through a lot together and were determined to stick together to the end. Kaidan on the other hand was fresh from the academy and his company were all greenhorns, but John was prepared to give him a chance to prove himself. Captain Andersons appointed him as Kaidan's CO.

_"thanks John"_ Joker and Kaidan said.

_"No thanks, just knew you guys are always in for some coffee."_

_"There's that weirdo again."_ Joker said quietly.

And indeed... The Turian called Nihlus was closing in on them as Joker was setting course to the nearest mass relay. _"We'll be hitting the relay in 10 seconds"_ Joker said through the ships intercom, and so they did. The Ship accelerated unbelievably fast until it reached FTL. _"She's running smooth, drift's just under 1500K"._

_"1500's good"_ Nihlus suddenly said

_"Look man, I know what's good, if you can fly a starship yourself you can begin to tell me what's good or not."_ Joker said annoyed.

Nihlus left without a further word, after a brief time in which the three guys were talking about starships and Nihlus, Captain Andersons voice was on the intercom in Jokers cockpit. _"Shepard, meet Nihlus and me in the briefing room."_

_"Aye aye, sir"_

When John arrived in the briefing room he was greeted by Anderson and Nihlus. Anderson introduced John to Nihlus.

_"Nihlus, a spectre... he's here to observe you on your mission on Eden prime."_

_"Observe?... mission? what are you talking about, I thought we were picking up a package."_

_"Observe... About how you extract that package, missions don't always involve combat."_

_"This planet, Eden prime must be quite beautiful, from what I've heard."_ Nihlus said

_"I don't know, never been there." _John replied.

Suddenly Joker interrupted their conversation with an intercom communication. _"Captain Anderson, I received a distress call from Eden prime."_

_"Put it on screen Joker."_

What they saw nailed them, there was a battle raging on the planet surface. Loud explosions and screams of men melded together into a sound of battle that John knew all too well. He was suddenly swung back to Mindoir, while he stared at the screen in the briefing room. Men and women were defending the colony against an unidentified enemy, John was hoping they weren't Battarians. A girl was throwing the man who was recording to the ground and shouted him to lay down. More gunfire and explosions as a giant warship came crushing through the clouds towards the planet surface. Never before in their life did they see such a strange ship. Then a loud explosion which apparently destroyed the camera because the video suddenly ended.

_"How long after they've send this distress call Joker?"_ Anderson asked.

_"About 15 minutes ago I think."_

_"Gather your men, and order Lieutenant Alenko to gather his men as well. Seems this mission does include combat after all."_ Anderson said to John.

_"Gives me a better opportunity to validate his skills. You have a remarkable will to live, a particularly useful talent."_ Nihlus said.

_"Well, I think my talent is more like... the galaxy doesn't allow me to die."_

After a brief moment 132 men were gathered in the cargo hold for the briefing. Their mission was to secure some sort of Prothean beacon, a race John never heard of before. Death company was to secure this beacon while Alenko company had to capture the transport truck's on the excavations site for the transport of the beacon to a open spot, where the Normandy could land to load the beacon. Just after Anderson ended his briefing an enraged Dr. Chakwas stormed in.

_"What the hell are you thinking David."_

_"What are you talking about?"_

_"You can't throw him into battle already... the scars on his soul are still fresh... he came back out of the darkness, but you can't toss him back in already and you know it."_

_"But this might be a good opportunity to see if he can handle combat again."_

Dr. Chakwas held both her arms right down her body as her fists were balled. _"Ohh! You're unbelievable, it's all about your stupid idea with that Hacket and Udina isn't it? You're all way to eager to have some human to become spectre, I say he's not ready yet."_

_"Let's ask him, shouldn't we?"_

_"I think I can handle myself in battle, I'm not a kid anymore..."_ Was Shepard's answer.

_"We'll if everyone think they're doctors... fine, suit yourself. But don't blame me for it if he has a nerve breakdown in the heat of battle."_ She walked out, very pissed off.

John nodded to Anderson, _"I can do it"_ he thought to himself.

_"We'll arrive any moment now, Nihlus will scout up ahead. Alenko, you report directly to Shepard he's your CO."_ Those were Andersons final words.

The Normandy's tailgate opened as soon as they made planet fall. Both Company's rushed outside with their weapons pointed in front of them in case of enemy's. They've set foot on Eden prime, an alliance colony planet. The environment was overwhelmingly beautiful, all the men stood in awe. The variety of plant life was enormous, and there were little creatures walking around, fleeing inside the vegetation when they saw the humans. The sky was bright and cloudless, and the temperature was comfortable. The sounds of the forest were deafening. As John beheld this spectacle he understood why this planet was called Eden prime, it was as beautiful as the garden of Eden is described in the Bible. _"That will be the reason why so many Christians voluntarily participated in the colonization project."_ John thought._"Ok, Kaidan get to your first objective."_ Shepard ordered through his helmet radio. He wasn't wearing his father's helmet on this mission. He didn't want to face his past battle in any way possible, he was now wearing the helmed that matched his armor. Alenko ordered his Company to the east, while John had to find out where the beacon was, So he decided to check the colony first, they could use some help anyway. So they marched towards the north. According to the GPS, the colony was in a small valley. 64 men were walking through the light-covered forest. The trees were high and their foliage was blocking most of the sunlight, but the men could see their surroundings well. The ground was covered with fern, bushes were abundant and densely heaped like islands in a sea of ferns. All men were wary and walked, aiming at everything that made a sound or moved, slowly towards the colony. After a while the forest stopped and the men began to climb a hill, on their left side was a cliff. They came over the hill in the shadow of the cliff to ensure they were not sky lining themselves on top of the ridge. Death Company now had a visual on the burning colony, they could still hear screams of terror and pain. _"Eden prime... beautiful garden of death."_ He said as they walked down. His veterans knew the drill, they knew John, They knew that lingering around was never good. Suddenly they heard some strange noises, like a rattling computer of some sort. They didn't knew what it was so the men lined up their rifles and were aiming in different directions as they walked on cautiously. The men came down from the hill and walked into the valley, the ground was covered with rocks and low vegetation. On the other side of the valley was the entrance into the colony, _"Alpha squad to my left, Beta and Delta to my right_."John ordered. And so walked Death Company shoulder to shoulder watching for enemies. They didn't need to watch very long because suddenly a lot of moving lights came running out of the entrance of the colony. They made that strange computer noise and their heads had flashlights, when they saw Death Company they immediately attacked them. But Death Company expected this and they were prepared _"This is why we must always be cautious"_ was Shepard's urgent lesson during the training of the fresh recruits. And it worked, they did an admirable job as they faced 40 of those strange creatures. They shot three rounds quickly in a suppressive fire maneuver. Cover was all around, and all the men used it quickly. The enemy was returning fire in a nonstop rain of bullets, but the cover prevented the men from serious injuries. John let his heavy semi automatic rifle sing her song of death through the valley, it was a beautiful song, it exceeded all other sounds. One man of Death Company was shot in his lung but a medic was already tending to his wound, dragging him into cover as the man was spitting out blood. _"Crash those bloody computers!"_ John shouted, As the men increased the rate of their point and shoot pattern. More and more of the enemy fell, one man was shot in his leg while his fire team was trying to run for a better firing position. The man hit the ground and their medic dragged him along, Then the medic was shot in the head and tumbled forward, hitting the dirt, the wounded man on the ground was filled with bullets as well. John who always had his bayonet attached to his weapon couldn't get close for melee combat due to the intensity of spraying bullets. But John quickly made up a plan, he ordered his squad to follow him. The other squads understood he had a plan and made short attack maneuverings to fool the enemy. This was extra favorable because the enemy was completely concentrating on the other squads, this made it quite easy to move in a flanking position. Sigma squad made good use of cover and kept a low profile, until they reached the right spot. _"Attack"_ screamed John, Sigma squad reacted with a loud roar and a storm of bullets that crushed the enemy in no-time. After the battle John made a hand gesture to the rest of the squads _"Coast is clear"_, the men came out of cover en walked over to Sigma squad who were already examining the enemies. The men were exited as they teased and congratulated John _"Nice one lieutenant, although I could have done it better"_ He smiled happily, those were good boys and soldiers.

_"This is lieutenant Shepard, Alenko Company report your status."_

_"We're pinned down and taking heavy fire, I'm doing all I can to break through but there are just so many.'_

_"how many?"_

_"I think about... 30 or so."_

_"That's not many, that's few! Now do your job, fight harder and reach you objective in time ok?"_

_"aye aye, sir."_

John was muttering as he took a picture of one of the fallen enemies, he had no idea what kind of race is was so he decided to send Anderson a picture. Maybe he knew what _it_ was. While he was sending the image to Anderson the squad was loudly discussing the diverse plant life on Eden prime. John had to say it was rather beautiful, a lot of flowers in a wide variety of colors and mushrooms that grew against an on top of the rocks. The red giant warmed the men in the valley comfortably while they were inspecting the enemies, nobody seemed to know what kind of weird race it was. The enemy creatures looked a bit wrong. Half organic and half cybernetic, their heads looked like giant flashlights with one _eye_. At least John assumed that it was an eye. After the message was send he rallied the Company and entered the colony, with caution of course. Buildings were on fire as were the corpses, a snow of ash was falling from the sky, the ash of buildings and burning humans. The heat and smoke were stifling, within 5 minutes all the men were sweaty and their faces were wet. The smoke stung their eyes, it concealed them but it prevented them to see very far as well. After a short while John ordered the men to stop. He updated the map of the colony with some strategic places and objectives for the different squads and updated it to the other squad leaders. _"Ok sergeants, you all know the drill, stay frosty and kill any enemy, if you find survivors take them to the entrance of the Colony. DO YOU GET ME?"_ followed by a loud _"ROOO AH"_ then all the squad leaders took their squads towards their objective. John was leading Sigma squad through the silent, hot and burning streets of Eden prime. The whole squad suddenly turned and pointed their weapons at a building when they heard a suspicious sound, _"Get out of there, we're alliance military, reveal yourself."_ and out of the building came a women wearing white alliance armor_."Gunnery chief... Ashley Williams, sir."_ She said while she stumbled towards John, then she fainted. John ran over to her and knelt down beside her, he was trying different things to get her back to consciousness, after some time he grabbed his chocolate bar and that seemed to do the trick. Her eyes opened and stared in his.

_"Wow, he's pretty... and he saved me..."_ Ashley thought, immediately melting as love struck her

_"Would she know where the beacon is?"_ John thought, and gave her the chocolate bar. Ashley happily accepted the chocolate bar while she looked at him with her hazel eyes. _"Are you hurt gunnery chief?"_ she shook her head in denial, _"Can you walk?"_ She nodded yes. John held out his hand, she grabbed it and he pulled her up.

_"Where is your team gunnery chief?"_

_"They're all dead. turned into horrible abominations... everyone is dead"_ She looked very sad while she stared at the ground.

_"Hey... I know how you feel, just take it easy." _John placed his hand on her shoulder._ "You can join my team if you want to?"_

_"Yea... I like to. I want to give those creatures some payback. Why are you here anyway?"_

_"We came to look for a beacon of some sort, it was discovered during an excavation."_

_"I see, that's the same reason why the enemy is here. They were looking for it as well. It's over there"_ She pointed her finger south. _"At the space port."_

_"Ok, get yourself together gunnery chief, you're in my fire team now."_

And so they moved on with Ashley Williams absorbed in the ranks of Death Company. She showed them the way, but right around the first corner they were greeted by strange zombie like creatures. They looked horrible, gray with a blue light shining from their eyes and cracks in their body. It looked like they had implants of some sort and electricity cables penetrated the skin. The zombie like creatures produced a hoarse groan. _"There are the colonists. The enemy turned them into these horrible things."_ And Ashley immediately opened fire upon them, followed by Death Company. The dread look of the creatures filled the men with fear. _"Shepard to all squads, rally to my position, RIGHT NOW!"_. all squads confirmed with a short _"aye aye"_ and the shooting continued. Hundreds and hundreds of the vile creatures rushed at Sigma squad who violently filled their foe with bullets. Shepard's bullets were like always, blowing of body parts, neutralizing an enemy with every hit he made. The zombie creatures kept attacking in an endless wave of terror while the other squads came dropping in from different directions. first they were shocked, but then they attacked. The enemy came ever closer, Death Company was struggling to keep them at bay. _"Attach Bayonets"_ John shouted, receiving a anxious look from Ashley _"You're not serious, are you"_ But John nodded _"I'm dead serious."._ And so the transformed colonists reached the first line of Death company who consisted of the veterans. They knew how to wield the rifle blade, and they were showing it to the enemy with whole their hearts. The bayonets were making short work of the zombies. John was reminded to the trenches with every stab he made, to the explosions of shells with every head he cut off, it was pleasing in some sort of way. Suddenly John was attacked from the side and he was pushed to the ground, The vile creature was clawing on his helmet as his teeth tried to penetrate the glass. Ashley saw it and kicked the creature away from John, the creature was squirming on the ground as Ashley filled it with bullets. She quickly helped john on his feet who instantly stabbed the next creature, but as he stabbed and blew a hole in his body, he saw a creature coming from the side again. john quickly grabbed his sidearm and shot a bullet through the brains of the dreadful looking creature with a contact shot, the body collapsed as its head was blown backwards. Ashley was overheating her shotgun and was creating a carnage among the enemies. After a short fight all enemies were dead, seven men from Death Company died. Their heads were eaten by the monsters, and their bodies were ripped open by their claws. John gave his men a short pause to catch their breath, especially Ashley who was already exhausted before the fight even started. She was breathing heavily, John walked by and said _"Nice fighting gunnery chief, thanks for the help"_ and he smiled at her then he walked on. Ashley smiled back at the lieutenant and said _"No thanks skipper"_, John looked back at Ashley _"What did you call me?"_

_"Skipper... You skipped the part where you should have told me your name, and I saved your ass so I call you whatever I want."_ She said with a playful laugh. The Company moved on with caution towards the spaceport, they didn't encounter any enemy. Step by step they moved forward with their eyes and ears peeled. The longer nothing happened the more restless the men became, apparently the enemy left already. John began to worry _"Would the beacon still be there?"_. John decided to ask Kaidan for another status report.

_"Kaidan come in, this is Shepard... I want a status report."_

_"We had to fall back, but we defeated some of those ugly creatures, don't know what they're called by the way."_

_"Yes, we encountered them as well, how many losses?"_

_"we lost 37 against a hundred of those creatures."_

_"37... Kaidan You're fucking up the mission, lead your men and don't let them die that fast, We killed hundreds of em and we lost only 7."_

_"Aye aye"_

_"Just get your ass over to those transport trucks or whatever they are and get them over here, the beacon needs extraction. Over and out."_ And he closed the channel _"Bloody schoolboy"_ He thought out loud.

After some walking they arrived at the space port, it was empty and no sign of those strange light emitting enemies nor transformed colonists. But they found the body of Nihlus, John knelt down beside him and examined the body. Fire teams were walking in different directions to inspect the pile's of junk and cargo to secure the area, the beacon was standing on the edge of the station platform. Suddenly a team leader shouted _"Ok you, get out of there you creep."_ An anxious man walked out of the shadow of a crate with his hands above his head, John walked over to him.

_"Hey man... what's your name, and what did you see?"_

_"The name's Cole, and I saw how they shot your friend."_

_"He's not my friend"_

_"Well anyway... he met another Turian, His name was Saren I believe. They knew each other, like they were friends. The dead one over there let his guard down, then Saren shot him right through his head."_

_"LIEUTENANT!"_ Shouted a rifleman who pointed towards the beacon. John saw Ashley dragged towards the beacon as she tried to walk away. He ran over to her as fast as his legs were able to, he grabbed Ashley and threw her away from the beacon. Now John was trapped in its magnetic power, he tried to walk backwards as he waved with his arms. Suddenly he was pulled up and he floated in the air. His eyes focused on the beacon, until he could see nothing but blackness. The beacon burned a vision into his mind, while he had no idea what it meant. An explosion... then silence...

_She vaguely saw john's face, filled with pain. Her lungs were turned into a pulpy mass, her throat was swollen up. The only way to get air was by massaging her throat, somehow it was painful. Her chest shook violently while she desperately tried to inhale air, it was useless. Trying to breath was so terribly painful, but her instinct ordered her to try because she would die if she didn't. Someone tried to pull her hand away from her throat, she was filled with desperation. Did he not understand, she had to do it. The pain increased to pure agony. She saw mom and dad, they pushed her while she sat on the swing set, her fourth birthday. The pain was unbearable as she tried to talk, she couldn't push out a single word. john spoke to her, he asked if she could hear him, yes she could... but she could not speak... Oh.. Johnny I love you... so much things we still had to do... marriage... children... flying his space ship, system to system... BANG!_

_"Doctor, I think he's waking up."_ Ashley said, and Dr. Chakwas was running towards his bed.

_"How did it went? Did you have a nerve breakdown? Did you see too much?"_ Karin's face was very concerned.

_"I... pff... I don't know... some kind of vision, no idea what it meant though..."_

_"You had me worried there John, you writhed like you were choking."_ Karin said.

_"Yeah well... that was just a dream."_

_"I'm sorry about the beacon Skipper, my curiosity got the better of me."_

_"What happened to the beacon?"_

_"They beacon was destroyed after you floated in front of it for a while. The explosion knocked you out so they picked you up an brought you here, I came with you. Kaidan came in three hours later with a truck but Anderson didn't need the destroyed beacon. Oh, that guy Cole... he's on the Normandy as well, Anderson will bring him to the Citadel."_

_"You had no idea of what might have happened, neither did I" _John said, Ashley responded with a smile.

Anderson walked into the med bay with great speed. _"Shepard, what happened down there?"_, so Shepard gave him a detailed after action report. _"Well, you better write it down nicely, the council must hear what happened, and about Saren, it does sound like him. He must be brought to trial for his actions... Destroying a colony, what is he thinking... bastard... The creatures who fought for him were the Geth, some kind of synthetic life form. Those other things you fought are called husks, I had Karin look it all up from the extranet. You must be lucky you got out of there alive."_ He tapped John on the shoulder and left the med bay again.

_"Who's in for some breakfast?"_ Dr. Chakwas suddenly suggested

Ashley and John both nodded.

_"Only if you feel like getting out of bed of course."_

"_I think I am."_ John said while tried to get out of bed moaning and groaning. Ashley embraced him while she helped him to sit on the edge of the bed, her cheek touched his, she felt it's warmth and the stubble of his beard. Ashley imagined herself what it would be like to kiss him and to hold him in her arms if they would be alone. She closed her eyes and smiled "Would he want me too?" she thought when she let go. She looked him in the eyes, his eyes betrayed the pain of his bruised body. Dr. Chakwas helped him in a bathrobe, together they gently helped him out of bed. John hit his arm around Ashley's shoulder to lean on, they walked to the mess slowly, when they finally arrived and about to begin their meal another member of Death Company joined their table.

_"Hey lieutenant, glad to see you're still alive."_ It was Shawn, one of the veterans.

_"Hey Shawn, Glad to see you too."_

_"John... I know who you are... you are the war hero from the Skyllian verge, Dr. Chakwas told me your name." _Ashley said.

_"I'm not a hero Ashley, everyone who died should be called a hero."_ John said and Shawn agreed with him.

_"How did the two of you meet?"_ Karin was asking a very tactical question in her search for answers about what John saw in that war.

_"We met in the trenches on Moon B4 during the Skyllian Verge campaign, I was amongst the reinforcements for Death Company."_ Said Shawn, John nodded while he was looking at his food and playing with it a bit. Shawn was staring in front of him while he continued.

_"I still remember Jimmy and Bernard... Bernard... One day a good friend of him was hit by a shell, the only thing that remained was his leg. Bernard kept it and talked to it day and night... Until it began to rot and smell... The others grabbed the leg and threw it into no man's land. Bernard freaked out, shouted and cursing everyone. He went over the top to look for his mate's leg, but Bernard never came back..."_

_"I didn't knew Bernard... but I knew Jimmy... That young boy who lost both his arms... standing in that blood filled shell crater. His lieutenant who spoke those words that we will never forget... then he shot him... He couldn't be older than 16, and his lieutenant shot him... and all the men stood there, nailed to the ground."_ Said John.

Ashley was getting sick, _"I heard enough."_. But Karin was amazed by the horrors those men saw. Shawn continued.

_"Sometimes It gets hard you know... Seeing all those new faces in the Company, knowing that they will die at some point, as they did yesterday on Eden prime."_

_"Yeah, but Eden prime wasn't like the Skyllian Verge... It was more like Mindoir."_ john's hands began to shake.

_"What mission was Mindoir?" _Shawn asked, supported by Ashley and Karin.

_"It wasn't a mission, It was my home..."_ Ashley grabbed his hands. She looked him in his eyes again, her heart rate began to rise and her cheeks began to glow. "If we were alone I would kiss him." She thought, but she knew she wouldn't dare.


	5. Citadel (part I)

**Citadel**

They were flying through space for 2 days now, most of his daytime he was helping engineer Adams with maintenance of the ship's technical systems. They were also creating extra cooling capacity for the ships drive core, erecting a network of pipes filled with cooling fluid that would naturally warm the ships rooms and offices and cool the drive core at the same time. Of course they didn't finished it that day but Adams was pleased he helped and his skills as a technician. _"Such skills can come in handy in any situation, even on the field of battle huh" _as he tapped Johns shoulder. He also gave him information along with mechanic and electronic drawings about the internal emission sink stealth system and the ships Tantalus drive core. John was eager to study these top of the line technical installations. On the first evening John and Kaidan were ordered to have their debriefing with Captain Anderson, both told their story about the course of the mission. John mentioned every detail and Kaidan was evading any combat situation. Anderson spoke his mind about the disappointing fact that the beacon was destroyed, Kaidan got a scolding about his miserable leadership and incompetent fighting skills _"You behaved like a rookie Kaidan, spending the lives of your men that easy, unbelievable... You're a biotic by the way, but you didn't make use of it at all, I don't understand your problem..."._ The second day John trained with Death Company, and spoke with anyone who wanted to talk about Eden prime. Shawn was writing a Company song for their recruiting project on the Citadel, time was short and he worked day and night. Jack and Bobby were practicing with their Bagpipes and drum, Shawn requested their assistance to help him with his song. John was pleased about their effort to make this company their home. Practice shooting was boring, but he had to keep his eye sharp. Ashley was training with Death Company as well, and because of her talented marksman skills and undying dedication in the art of melee combat they gladly accepted her in their ranks. Ashley was honored that she was been given this opportunity to prove herself, and when John appointed her sergeant of C squad she just couldn't believe it. The former sergeant died on Eden prime, now Ashley suddenly found herself leading a squad of hardened war fighters. During the meals she was always together with John as they talked about all kinds of subjects, from life on the colony to life on a spaceship. Ashley felt awfully attracted to him, but he didn't noticed. Even less could she guess his feelings for her, if there were any. It made her sad sometimes although she knew him for only three days. _"Would he be attracted to women anyway? Does he already have a girlfriend?"_ such questions haunted her. She leaned her head on her hand as they sat together in the mess, with her other hand she ruffled her long brown hair. _"Hey Ashley, something wrong?"_ She shook her head softly in denial _"No..."_ *sigh* _"It's nothing..."_ John didn't expect this, but he was suspecting something. _"It's ok if you don't want to talk about it in here, maybe my room is a better place?"_. He took all their trash and placed it on his tray. _"Come visit my room to talk about it tonight, if you want to of course."_ Ashley looked at him with a smile _"I would like that"_. He walked away to dump the trash in the waste and placed their trays on the pile of trays in the kitchen. Then he walked through the mess towards his room, giving her a nod and a smile as he walked past her.

John was just covering the pile of trash, which was all he belong when someone knocked his door three times. _"Come in"_ he said, the door opened and Ashley walked in with two cups of coffee. She wore her military leisure clothing and her hair in a ponytail. _"Hey skipper"_ She said when she quickly walked inside and saluted, _"Why am I doing this"_ She thought, _"she never had to do that to John"_. Tonight she would talk to him as a friend, not as a colleague. She quickly stopped saluting, and looked uncomfortable with a red head. John smiled and waved at a table and chairs invitingly _"Coffee, Thanks."_ they both sat down and she gave him his coffee. _"Sorry about my behavior in the mess, nothing serious, but I appreciate your invitation."_ she said while she avoided his eyes, her cheeks were still glowing due to the blunder she made when she entered his room. She hoped he didn't mind and looked at him. _"No problem at all, it's always good to have friends around"_ John smiled as he stirred his coffee and watched as he created a vortex in his coffee cup. _"But still I want to know what bothers you, doesn't matter if it's important, I want to know what keeps you busy."_ Ashley began to move uncomfortably on her chair _"Shall I tell him or not?"_ She was heavily doubting, and nervously tapped her feet on the floor _"I'm in love with someone"_ she decided to say and quickly took a sip of coffee. _"Who is it? Do I know him?"_ John looked happy, he didn't expect this answer but was relieved that nothing serious was bothering her indeed. But then she said something that greatly decreased his happiness _"... It's you lieutenant..."_ Her face couldn't be more red and John looked around as if a hard question was troubling him. _"sorry Ashley, but I think I'm not ready for that, the open wound of my past relationship is still fresh and deep."_ she suddenly looked him right in the eye, her look was touching _"Sorry, I didn't knew"_ she said as she calmed down a bit _"How did the two of you part then?"_. But John shook his head because he did not want to tell her_."Come on John, I told you something personal as well."_ She said lightly irritated _"Ok,ok... she died during a gas attack on moon B4 in the period before the assault on the Battarian base... she died on the first day... In my arms."_ followed by a long silence in which they both drank their coffee. Ashley understood his problem although she was disappointed. _"Look Ashley, you're a great woman, but I just can't imagine myself to be in a relationship."_ John suddenly said to break the silence, Ashley nodded. _"So you need time?"_ She said while she grabbed his hand. _"I think so, but we should keep hang out and do fun stuff together. I first have to unchain my history, as Karin puts it."_ he said while a burden fell of his heart, he calmed down a bit as well. _"But tell me about your roots Ashley, what are your roots?"_ But as he asked he began to regret. She sat up and her eyes shined as she began to rain down a waterfall of words on John. _"I come from a large family with a long military tradition, many of us serve in the army. We lost a lot of our respect due to my grandfather. He surrendered during the first contact war, my dad never rose above the rank of serviceman third class because of that. Even I have to work three times as hard to achieve anything."_ She was talking very enthusiastic while John was listening enthralled _"I grew up on a colony in a religious family along with three sisters. Because my parents were in the military they often left, and left us to lean on each other."_ She was talking in an endless stream of words about her three sisters, and the things the four of them had been through together. Their adventures and their birthdays. After that her story about her military training began, from which John could clearly extract the fact that she was being discriminated due to her grandfather. She didn't even stopped talking while John grabbed them something to eat and drink, even John told something about his youth as well. The great adventures with his dad and the long motocross tours with Brian and Donald. _"I miss it... the wind through my face while I drove the heavy four stroke through the wide terrain of Mindoir, while we didn't have any idea where the landscape would take."_ And so did the evening continue, talking as friends, until it was time to say goodbye.

The next day, when John had just started his breakfast in the mess, Shawn joined him at the table. _"Hey John, up early I see?"_ Shawn packed his tray with warm bread and meats _"Yeah, you too I see?"_ John said as he smiled friendly towards Shawn _"Yes, I should practice our Company tune some more"_ And he took a big bite of bread. _"It's a beautiful song Shawn, I'm sure our Company will be at full strength when we leave the Citadel again"_ And John began his meal too. _"...e ..av ...ew ...ogan"_, Shawn emptied his mouth and repeated the sentence _"We have a new slogan..."_ When suddenly they heard Jokers voice through the intercom. _"We've arrived at the Citadel."_ Shawn and John quickly put something to eat in their mouth, then they hurried to Jokers Cockpit. Through the window they saw a magnificent spectacle, in the distance they could see the Citadel with her inviting unfolded arms. In front of it the asari flagship, the _destiny ascension_. John's opinion was that it looked rather weird _"Does it even have a front and tail side?"_, Ashley agreed _"What a horrible looking ship"_ was her nuanced answer_."But it is quite a monster"_ Said Kaidan who stood right beside her. _"It looks more spectacular that it is, I'll tell you that."_ Jokes suddenly said while he was busy getting a connection with flight control. They stood in awe to this prestigious scene on the light purple background. Joker finally had a connection, _"Flight control, this is the SSV Normandy requesting permission to dock"_. _"Hey Kaidan, what are you going to do on the citadel?"_ John shouted _"Oh, recruiting members I think, but first I will join you to that appointment."_ Kaidan said while he walked towards John. _"I'm sorry I screwed up so bad at Eden prime by the way, apparently I still have a lot to learn."_ He said with a serious voice _"It'll be all right, just try to lose fewer men the next time."_ John barely completed his sentence when Shawn Joined them in full uniform, followed by the men of Death Company _"Do you know what it is Kaidan?"_ Shawn said _"Real lieutenants are forged in the heat of battle, you did not had your baptism of fire yet, you will understand when you defeated an overwhelming force and crawl of the battlefield more death then alive."_ Shawn looked impressive, as did the rest of the Company. All had their equipment cleaned and their Death Company badge pinned on their chest, the veterans wore their Medal of honor next to it. Shawn carried the banner he created, a black flag with a gold skull. Above the skull stood in silver words _"Death is our friend"_ . This was their new slogan, chosen by the majority of the Company. On the other side of the banner, the battles in which Death Company had participated were written down in tiny letters _Skyllian verge_ and _Eden prime_. There were only two but the Skyllian verge would undoubtedly leave the people in awe. Next to Shawn stood Jack with a bagpipe and Bobby with a heavy drum _"What are those instruments for?"_ Kaidan asked _"We thought it might help if we use our Company song with the recruitment."_ Meanwhile Joker received his docking bay number and they flew between the arms of the citadel towards the docking bays. The gigantic space station had a ring down in the middle which connected all arms, it was there that they would dock the Normandy.

As soon as the Normandy was docked, it's doors opened and they walked out of the space ship. John, Kaidan and Anderson were the first to walk out followed by Death Company, the last ones to leave the Normandy were the remains of Alenko Company. The Citadel looked like a beautiful bride, with her white tiles and her white ceilings. The greenbelts with its alien vegetation, and her stream of water down in the valley of the presidium. This was probably the most beautiful star base any man could imagine, at first it silenced the men. They were walking shoulder to shoulder like an army on the move, as they walked they got the attention of prying eyes. Bobby didn't waste any time and began to play a tight rhythm on the drum, it was their Company marching song. Captain Anderson and Kaidan didn't have any clue what was about to happen and looked at John questioningly, but he walked on calm, with a grin on his face while Jack began to sing on the rhythm of the drum.

_Jack: O come tell me Shawn O'ferrel, tell me why you hurry so_

_Shawn: Rally on me hush and listen, there's not much time before we go, _

_I bare orders from John Shepard get you ready quick and soon, _

_for the men must be together for the death rush on the moon._

_All: for the death rush on the moon, for the death rush on the moon, _

_all the boys must be together for the death rush on the moon._

_Jack: And come tell me Shawn O'ferrel where the gathering is to be_

_Shawn: At the old spot by the shell hole, quite well known to you and me._

_one more word for signal token, whistle out the marching tune_

_with your rifle on your shoulder for the death rush on the moon_

_All: for the death rush on the moon, for the death rush on the moon_

_With your rifle on your shoulder for the death rush on the moon._

_Shawn: Over a mud wall trench, eyes were watching over no man's land_

_many a manly heart was waiting for the blessed whistle blow_

_whistles blew along the trenches for the men to start the charge_

_and a million guns were flashing at the death rush on the moon_

_All: At the death rush on the moon, at the death rush on the moon_

_and a million guns were flashing at the death rush on the moon_

_Shawn: All along that land of no man that black mass of men were seen_

_high above their heads flew the wailing heavy shells_

_Death to every foe and traitor: whistle out the marching tune_

_and hurrah, to victory 'tis the death rush on the moon_

_All: 'tis the death rush on the moon, 'tis the death rush on the moon_

_and hurrah, to victory 'tis the death rush on the moon._

While they sang the men gave flyers to the bystanders, _"spread the word"_ was the message _"Death Company is recruiting"_. Sadly, John, Kaidan and Anderson had a meeting with Ambassador Udina so they had to leave. And so they walked, the music of his beloved Company slowly fading away. _"I have to say, that tune is quite catching"_ Anderson said, and Kaidan agreed with him. John was convinced that they would gather all the men they would need. They walked through the beautiful presidium and past it's many stores, it's many bars and it's many C-sec officers. Anderson set course for a taxi spot with waiting sky cars, those would bring them to Udina's office. At this office, which was elevated high above the presidium valley, Udina walked back and forth with his hands behind his back. His face was grim and his eyes focused on the floor.

_"Welcome Captain Anderson, I see you brought that vandal with you?"_ He said without looking up.

_"It wasn't his fault that the beacon exploded."_

_"Oh, whatever, but because of that our chances of unmasking and prosecute their beloved spectre grew slim. We have a colony that needs redemption."_ He finally looked at them, studying each one of them with narrow eyes.

John and Kaidan were watching from the sideline while Anderson and Udina continued their conversation.

_"But ambassador, the council cannot deny our after action report? there's evidence in there."_

_"well, I say we have little chance, but we will see what will be decided at the hearing. I've ordered this "Cole" to meet us there, he will tell about the assassination on Nihlus himself. I've arranged this meeting two days ago so we have some time to display our evidence."_

He ended their conversation and motioned them to follow him, and so they took the sky car back to the presidium again. Their destination was the needle, the seat of galactic government, which was in the middle of the ring, accessed only by a wide and long bridge through space. As they walked over that bridge John could not believe what he was doing, _"a bridge with no railing through space."_ The bridge went on and on until they reached the needle, Anderson and Udina spoke about all kinds of Alliance subjects, like campaigns and funding. They entered a elevator which would take them to the highest level, where they would meet the council. After a long trip in the elevator they arrived in a beautiful hall. There were grass beds with trees and rock, on the other side was a large stair, apparently they had to go there because Udina walked straight at it. When they reached the top of the stairs they could see the council, in the distance on another plateau. Udina, Anderson, John and Kaidan walked to the edge of theirs, joined by Cole. _"Welcome to this hearing Ambassador Udina, Captain Anderson, Lieutenant Shepard and Lieutenant Alenko"_ The four humans returned the formalities before Udina came straight to the point

_"We have proof that one of your spectre's is a traitor."_

_"Is that so?" _Said a talking holographic figure, a Turian.

_"Saren, what are you doing here"_ Was Andersons irritated question.

_"This hearing is about me, do I not have the right to defend myself?"_

The asari councilor asked for their prove, so Udina asked Cole the dockworker to tell them what he saw. Cole told a short version of what happened.

_"The traumatic experience of one traumatized dockworker cannot be called solid evidence"_ said the Salarian councilor _"You have to come with something better than that."_

_"Shepard's vision"_ Said Anderson suddenly.

_"You are pulling my leg, aren't you?..."_ Said Saren _"Are we allowing dreams as evidence now? How am I supposed to defend myself against that."_

_"Saren is right"_ said the Asari Councilor _"We need solid evidence... so far we've seen nothing. We can be very short about this, for we have no more time planned for you. Our time is valuable and we do not need these aimless accusations, This concludes our meeting, as long as there's no evidence the council will not take any steps."_

The disappointment was clearly seen on the men's faces as they walked away, at a certain point in the hall in front of the stairs Udina stopped and turned towards John. _"Shepard, do you have time to find evidence?"_ the three men looked at each other questioningly _"Yes"_ said John shrugging_."If you find that evidence we're done you see?.. but where should we start?..."_ Udina walked back and forth over thinking his opportunities, he held his chin with one hand_."I shall see what I can do, but now I should really look how things are going with the recruiting campaign, Shawn will probably die of notifications. Give me a call if you have a lead."_ Udina agreed and so all went their own way. John decided to call Shawn _"Hey Shawn, where are you."_ John heard a lot of noise on the background, after a while it decreased. _"Hey John, I had to walk outside due to the noise, we're in Chora's den, some club down the lower wards. We're having a drink with the new recruits, something wrong?"_ John immediately set the destination on his Omni tool GPS. _"nothing serious... I'll tell you when I get there, see you soon."_ And Shawn closed the channel after he said goodbye as well. John walked through the presidium towards a taxi spot, on his way he passed several shops. _"Johnny, Johnny, Johnny! Shops..."_ Was Carols soft voice in his head. He had to agree that she would have really loved this place, he sighed by her thought. So, In name of Carol, he entered a store where they sold all kinds of trumpery, from socks to guns. After some looking around he found something, three picture frames, he decided to buy them for the pictures he had. After he paid, he continued his journey towards the taxi spot, with a little bag, containing the picture frames, in his hands. As soon as he arrived he paid a taxi to bring him to the wards, a neighborhood with quite a bad name. The sky car automatically flew to its destination on one of the citadel arms. It was still impressive to John but he didn't see himself live here. He didn't like the constriction of cities, he rather was in the open space of a vast terrain. After a short trip he arrived at his destination on the wards and walked straight to Chora's den. He was being watched by several unsavory types, he tried to ignore them. He would remain on the alert _"What were his boys doing here anyway? Would they try to recruit these thugs?"_ He didn't trust these people in advance, this feeling increases when he entered Chora's den. In the middle of the club was a round stage slightly elevated on which half naked Asari dancers were showing their moves and curves. This was the best part of the entire club, they looked like human females and they all had a good figure. around the entire circumference of the round stage was a bar, where more of those thugs, were watching the Asari on stage with a dirty look. The next ring around the bar was the dance floor where, as the name says, people were dancing. Predominantly slutty women who were half riding older men. On the wall side were several niches with a bank at the walls and a table in the middle, on some of those table's were again Asari dancers dancing on their knees. He saw some of his boys dancing on the dance floor and some were hanging at the bar, he saw Shawn, some of his boys and an alien sitting in a niche. He quickly walked over there, touched and grabbed by some women along the way _"They probably want to earn money"_ he thought. _"What the bloody hell are you guys doing in here?"_ He said when he arrived, all of them were in a heated discussion. _"This Turian over here could have a golden tip, although he doesn't want to say anything about it to me... he wanted to speak to you."_ Shawn pointed at the Turian with his thump as he spoke, a typical Turian, his armor was C-sec blue. John wriggled over to the Turian and sat down beside him.

_"John Shepard, lieutenant of Death Company, pleased to meet you."_

_"It's an honor, your men told me about their campaign on the Skyllian verge under you command, reckless but brave. Garrus Vakarian is my name, and I do have a golden tip if you're looking for Saren. I know someone with information, his name is Fist. I was investigating Saren myself, but everything he touches is classified. This "Fist" is the owner of this club, his office is being guarded by his thugs 24/7. Because he didn't do anything wrong I cannot interrogate him, it irritates me greatly."_

_"And how does that involve us? how did you meet my guys?"_

_"That's not hard, they were singing and shouting through the presidium like a horde of Krogan. About Saren and Fist, maybe you can get some information from him. About Krogan by the way, there is a Krogan in the Club who is looking for Fist as well. It could be really profitable for all of us if we work together... A win win situation."_ Garrus pointed towards the Krogan who stood against the wall, he was looking intimidating at the Guards at the door who grew ever more nervous.

_"Shawn, will you ask the Krogan to come over here for a deal he might like?"_ Shawn answered with a short nod and stood up.

_"Do you have a plan Garrus?"_ Said John thinking, he was preparing for action as he tried to come up with a plan himself.

_"I can Delay C-sec as long as possible to give you extra time to interrogate Fist. It's not a perfect plan, but it's a plan"_ Said Garrus calm, he leaned back and took a sip of his drink. John was thinking about it until Shawn returned with the Krogan beside him_."Ok, let's do it."_ John stood up and wriggled over to them.

_"hi, I'm John Shepard"_ He said while he reached out his hand. The Krogan, who didn't react at John hand, said _"I'm Wrex, what do you want?"_ John told Wrex the plan and asked if he would help, and to Johns delight he accepted _"Hmm... simple, straightforward, I'm in... finally some action."_

_"Shawn, where is the rest of Death Company."_

_"They're spread across the club, here's a gun, could be handy during your interrogation."_ He blinked his right eye and gave him a sidearm. John took the gun and hid it under his T-shirt behind his belt. _"Skipper, I'll follow you inside"_ Said a familiar voice behind him, Ashley stood with her arms crossed, there was no way to argue about it. _"your females look like ours."_ Said Wrex laughing, John laughed as well. _"Off course Ash, you can come with me and Wrex."_ And he faced Shawn _"And if you start a brawl here with the boys, we can walk straight through that door."_ No sooner said than done, Shawn send a message to all Death Company boys _"Start a brawl on my signal."_ and walked to the bar. He ordered a drink and paid. He turned away from the bar and bumped someone, he dropped his glass and it splintered, the fluid stained the clothes of the bystanders. _"Hey look out Retard!"_ Shawn shouted at the man and hit him right in the face. This was the signal, and so there was an all out brawl in no-time. People were thrown over tables, beaten and thrown over the bar. Barstools were broken on the backs and heads of people, even the guards had to suffer for it. John walked over to the door leading to Fists office, with a little bag and a gun hidden under his Alliance T-shirt. As he reached for the heck of the door a guard shouted at him. _"Hey you! get away from that door, you're not allowed to enter."_ And the guard hurried over to them, but only to fail his attempt to stop John who already reached for his gun. He shot the Guard at point-black range though his head _"Bang!"_. The man collapsed, blood poured out of his head wound. Bystanders panicked and began to scream hysterically. _"Shit, I reacted a bit to violent."_ He thought, he didn't think, he just reacted. He quickly hid his weapon and went through the door. Garrus watched them as they left the club, a smile appeared at his face. He liked his style, he liked John.

John, Ashley and Wrex were walking through the hallway, at the end they could see a light shining through an open door. They went over there carefully and John peeked inside, Two humans and an alien. The alien was strapped on a chair, one of the humans walked intimidating around the alien, the other one was carelessly watching. _"I will ask this only once, stupid Quarian, where do you have that data"_. The female Quarian answered with a heavily accent _"I say it only once, none of your business." _The man hit the Quarian with a gun on her shoulder, she uttered a cry of pain. _"I'm Fist, this is precisely my business."_ He walked around her until he stood in front of her and he went to one knee one knee on the floor, they watched each other, if she wouldn't wear a helmet, right in the eyes. _"Saren doesn't like those bloody busybodies walking around with sensitive information about him, just give it to me and you are free to go, unless you're really want to die over some information."_ There was a silence, apparently the Quarian was over thinking her chances of success. John sneaked into the room and hid behind a pile of crates, he gestured Ashley and Wrex to take care of the guard, he would take Fist. Then he gave the execution order for their plan, Ashley and Wrex reacted. They stormed inside and shot at the guard, the guard was blown to the wall and collapsed like a ragdoll. Fist was stunned while he watched Ashley and Wrex, he didn't notice the man who approached him from his side. John hit him on his head and grabbed his gun, Wrex made sure the guard was dead by pumping a couple of shotgun rounds in his body, which was now maimed in the corner. Ashley began to free the Quarian from her plight, John stood calm with his weapon aimed at an aghast Fist. "_Just start talking Fist, what are you looking for? And for who do you work?"_ Fist who was so confident a moment ago was now watching scared in different directions. _"Quickly! Or I will shoot you in the kneepads... And I love doing that."_ He walked carelessly back and forth with his sidearm in his hand, not pointing at Fist as he talked in front of him like Fist wasn't there at all. _"Did you know Fist... you could die of the pain alone... Isn't that funny, I shoot you in the kneepads and you die of the pain, not the bullet."_ This appeared to work because Fist began to talk. _"Ok,ok... I work for Saren, the Quarian would have vital information... It was my task to obtain it and finish her off."_ Suddenly an outraged Quarian shouted "_You Boshted... You said you would let me go!"_ Fist looked angry at the Quarian, unsure at John and afraid at Wrex. _"Go on Fist"_ said John extremely nice _"I didn't said you could stop talking."_ But the brave Fist collected himself, he was loyal to Saren, he would not betray him. _"I have nothing more to say to you!"_ he said firmly. John lost himself, a button switched in his head. He walked over to Fist and hit his head with his sidearm, _"You think I'm telling a joke you idiot? DO YOU THINK I'M TELLING YOU A FUCKING JOKE?..." "Bang"_ was the sound of the gun, _"Crack"_ was the sound of Fist's right kneepad. _"AAhhgg... you sick bastard!"_ Fist was desperately grabbing for his damaged knee and writhed on the ground. _"Look at me Fist! we are having a conversation, you're behavior is considered rude!"_ he said as he grabbed Fist's chin and turned his head so they were looking at each other, teardrops were rolling down his cheeks. _"Go away you sick bastard, you have what you want, don't you!"_ John spit him in the face and said _"You're not in the position to make demands! Do you understand?"_ but Fist didn't notice the spittle on his face due to the pain from his knee "_HEY, I ASKED YOU A QUESTION"_ and hit Fist's damaged knee with the back of his sidearm who screamed in pain, _"Fuck you Fist, I don't need you anymore, I will figure it out myself, I gave you a chance to save yourself..."_ John stood up and turned to walk away after two steps he turned around and aimed at the terrified Fist who laid on the floor. _"Bang"_ Was the sound of the gun, _"Crack"_ was the sound of his other kneepad. Fist fared in pain as John said _"Saren has the blood of many humans on his hands, you should have considered that when you chose your loyalty."_ He turned and walked away, back to the Club. Ashley was awfully silent after she saw his behavior, even a bit scared, intimidated. _"What the hell just happened."_ She shook her head.


End file.
